Sharingan Awakened
by Magical Pirate Ninja
Summary: Next-Generation. He's a missing nin, and she is married with two children. But something must have happened between Sasuke and Sakura because "Lee's" daughter has the sharingan.
1. Sharingan Awakened

**A/N: Hi guys this is my first fanfiction that I've been meaning to write for a while. It might be a bit ambitious because this is something that I've never seen done before but the idea wouldn't leave my mind so I decided I would share it just to see how many other people might be interested :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto characters, only the many OCs in this fanfic ^_^  
**

***Edit: Originally this was three pretty short chapters so I just merged them all together.  
**

* * *

"Mama, mama, look what I can do!" a little girl around the age of seven with black hair ran up to a pink haired kunoichi.

"What is it sweetie?" Sakura asked with a soft smile.

"I have a cool eye trick like Minato!" The little girl said excitedly. "Look!" she said as her eyes changed from the usual dark color to red with black splotches surrounding her pupil; Sakura immediately recognized the sharingan. The seven year old continued to prattle how cool it her eyes were until she heard a crash and realized her mother dropped the plate she had been washing, "Mama?" the girl's eyes returned to normal and she looked at her mother, concerned.

"Listen to me, Ryo." Sakura said very seriously, "never use that jutsu ever again!"

"W-why mama?"

"Just don't do it." Sakura was gripping the little girls shoulders tightly.

"Y-you're hurting me mama." She whined

Sakura quickly let go of her shoulders, "promise me you will never use that eye trick again."

"But, mama-"

"Promise me." The girl was cut off by her mother.

"O-okay," Ryo said hesitantly and Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Mama?" Ryo questioned.

"Go back out to play for a while, okay Ryo."

"Okay mama…" Ryo shrugged off the bad atmosphere and put on a huge smile, "I'm gonna go pick some flowers for mama!"

Sakura chuckled. "Okay honey." As soon as Ryo was out of sight Sakura slid down to the floor and hugged her knees tightly to her chest. "I was hoping she wasn't _his_ child." She muttered bitterly to herself.

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STORY /\(o^_^o)/\ BREAK

* * *

Ryo was looking through a book that talked about the different types of eye jutsus in the past. She hadn't been worried about it when she first discovered the "eye trick" as she called it two years ago when she first discovered it, but the dream she had the night before kept her thinking about it. In her dream she was followed around by eyes that she could swear pierced through her bones. It made her want to know what had scared her mother two years ago.  
The only hint she had to go off of was her mother distinctly calling it a jutsu. She read the book, analyzed all of the descriptions, and made sure she didn't miss a single detail in each of the illustrations that went along-side each jutsu. Finally, one caught her eye: the sharingan, a very powerful dojutsu, or eye technique, that only the most powerful in the Uchiha clan possessed. This puzzled her; the only thing she ever heard about the Uchiha clan was rumors about the large estate at the edge of the village.

She immediately went to look for books that told about the oldest clans in the village, the Uchihas took a very prominent spot in the book. Before long she learned that the only living Uchiha was Sasuke, an extremely elusive and powerful missing-nin. She followed the clues and decided to try and learn more about the S-Class missing-nin. Unfortunately for her the resources available to a nine year old were extremely miniscule. With so little information in her grasp she was forced to come to her own conclusions that were probably not entirely inaccurate: she became convinced that this Sasuke character raped her mother and that her mother was too traumatized to speak of it to anyone. Her hatred of the evil man she created with her imagination took root in mind as she wanted to be the person. No, the ninja, that would rid the world of this threat, and hopefully, her mother of her nightmares. Her goal was now formulated, and nothing would stand in the way of her achieving it. She couldn't have possibly known the similarities she had to her biological father.

After she learned of her true parentage, as much as it pained her, she found it very difficult to look at Lee, or her little brother, the same way. Lee noticed her withdrawal and it pained him. However, he simply related to her growing up, as he was blissfully unaware of the war waging in her thoughts. He spent his time training his true son, Gai (named lovingly after his sensei), while she became ever more distant training by herself so she could learn to harness the power of the sharingan in secret. This continued to go on until she was twelve, and time for her to graduate from the academy. When she sat in orientation, waiting to hear who was on her team, she silently cheered; she was finally one step closer to achieving her goal to bring a mad man who, in her mind, became increasingly more corrupt, to justice.

She came very close to scowling as she learned who was in her team. One was Hotaru Denshi, who, in many ways resembled Naruto as a genin; he was rash, impatient, and had the worst grades in the class. As if that wasn't enough, Hotaru was friends with _everyone_; he couldn't seem to bring himself to dislike a person no matter the exterior image they made for themselves. As if one loudmouth wasn't enough for Ryo to handle, their other team member was Hana, the over confident heir to the Inuzuka clan and her little dog, too. Ryo steeled her nerves as she saw her rowdy teammates make their way to her desk. She imagined her ever-youthful father and knew there was no way they could be as annoying as he was.

"Hey, teammate!" Hotaru called to her. Ryo merely grunted in response.

"So are you ready to go to the class where we meet our new sensei?" Hana asked cheerfully.

Ryo raised herself from her chair, "may as well get it over with." she muttered.

"hmmm?" Hotaru questioned

"Nothing, let's go" Ryo said beckoning for them to follow out the door. They complied merrily.

Ryo nearly groaned when she entered the classroom and met a face that seemed even more rambunctious than the other two ninjas she was partnered with, "Yosh, I'm konohamaru" the dumb-faced jounin told the kids enthusiastically.

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STORY /\(o^_^o)/\ BREAK

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Konohamaru led his team to a rooftop to begin introductions because he has never been one to enjoy being in a stuffy classroom.

The three genin looked vastly different. Hotaru wore dark grey leather jacket over a blue shirt that matched the blue of his headband that he wore on his forehead. His pants were also black and were a simple design that seemed comfortable to move in. On his feet was the basic ninja footwear, also black. His hands were covered by black, fingerless gloves with metal plating presumably to block kunai or shuriken. His hair was dark brown color and he wore it in a messy ponytail similar to Shikamaru's but longer.

Overtop of a simple, tight-fitting shirt, Hana wore her father's old fur coat although it was definitely a few sizes too big for the girl. Underneath a simple brown skirt she wore white leggings that went just past her knees. Her hair was short and messy. Looking at the girl it was obvious her father was Kiba though most would never guess that her mother was Tenten.

Ryo wore a flexible green dress overtop of red leggings that matched the red sash around the middle of her dress. Her pink hair was put up in a messy ponytail similar to Anko's. Her basic genin shoes were black and her hands were covered by red gloves.

"Alright," he began, "who wants to introduce themself first?" The three genin looked at each other before Hotaru eagerly raised his hand. Konohamaru nodded in his direction.

Hotaru grinned as he began his introduction, "My name is Hotaru Denshi. I like meeting new people and making friends." He glanced at each of people surrounding him as he said this. "I _hate _it when people look down on me, and my dream is to be the hokage!"

Konohamaru smirked and nodded before pointing to Hana, "How 'bout you go next." He asked\

"My name is Hana Inuzuka and this here is Ginskunku." (gin means silver and I just added the skunk part.) She lifted up the dog sitting next to her as she said the second name. "I like, well, dogs. And dislike those who abuse them. My dream is to be able to learn to speak to animals." Konohamaru was taken off guard by such an unrealistic dream but managed not to show it on his face as he asked for Ryo to introduce herself.

"My name is Ryo Rock. I like to train, preferably alone, and dislike those who take advantage of others." When she said this an image of Sasuke entered her mind. "My dream, is to become a ninja great enough to wipe out the growing number of missing-nin."

Konohamaru looked at the three genin and smiled. "Now that we all know each other it's about time I tell you about the test."

"What test?" asked Hana curiously

"Well," said Konohamaru, "out of the twenty-seven genin who just graduated only nine will be able to remain genin… the other eighteen will be sent back to the academy for some extra training."

"WHAT!?" Screamed Hotaru, "but I worked so hard to get here already! I can't be sent back to the academy!" He whined

"Well then, I guess you will have to pass the test tomorrow." Konohamaru chirped happily, "Meet me at training ground 9 tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. with all your ninja equipment. Oh, and don't eat any breakfast or you will just lose it." after explaining Konohamaru quickly left.

"FIVE AM!" Hotaru whined in disbelief.

"Oh come on… Five isn't that bad." Hana told him, "I get up that early to walk Ginskunku."

"Anyway, it doesn't matter how early it is…" Ryo added, "We'll be there or get sent back to the academy, and I know which one I choose."

"Alright five am it is." Hotaru said finally getting his spirit back

Hana giggled at him, "yup!"

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**A/N: I think this is better first chapter... It has a lot more words, and it blends better with my later chapters. Also, you get to meet all three of the "main" characters in the first chapter this way so... enjoy...  
**


	2. We pass?

**A/N: So sorry! I told you I would get this chapter out on Thursday, but I didn't get it done until just now because I hadn't had a lot of chances to work on it. I promise the next one will be out on time. Also I'm trying to make the chapters longer so tell me what you think ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto characters, only the many OCs in this fanfiction.  
**

* * *

At 5:00 a.m. the next morning Ryo quickly makes her way to the training ground. She is used to getting up this early because when she trained with Lee he liked to get an early start, and she continued to get up early when training by herself because it was easier to stay hidden. Hana was already there playing fetch Ginskunku. The name didn't really make a lot of sense to Ryo; the dog was white, not silver. Ryo noticed Hotaru sluggishly making his way to the training ground with bags under his eyes. It was obvious that he didn't adjust his sleep schedule for the earlier wake up.

"Hey guys!" Hana cheerfully called to the two who had just arrived.

Hotaru looked up and grinned, "Hey Hana, Ryo. How are you guys wide awake already?"

Ryo rolled her eyes at him, "Some of us prepare when we know we have to get up early." Even though she was used to getting up early she still was kind of grumpy when she first woke up.

"Hey I prepared!" He paused for a moment trying to find a way to prove that he was, "I had a really big supper last night because I knew I couldn't eat breakfast today!" He grinned as if he had just said something that proved his genius.

"Ummm, Hotaru," Hana began cautiously, "You do know that isn't good for you right?"

"Are you kidding?" He asked in disbelief, "I'm a ninja, I need to eat a lot to keep up my strength!" He flexed his arm trying to show his muscle as he said this.

Konohamaru appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and smiled at the three, "I see you guys are all up and ready to go!"

Hotaru spun around and looked determinedly at the jounin, "You bet we are!" Hana nodded in agreement, while Ryo simply smiled confidently next her.

"Alright then, I'll tell you the rules of the exercise." Hotaru smile disappeared as his face took a more serious look. He held up two bells as he began to explain, "You have until lunch to get one of these bells from me. If you don't get a bell you won't get lunch and will be tied to one of those posts while you watch me eat my lunch." He pointed to the three wooden posts as he said this. "If you don't get a bell you will be sent back to the academy."

"But sensei… There is only two bells." Hana pointed out

"Hm? Oh yes, that. Only two of you will be able to pass. Alternatively there are three posts." His face didn't change from his serious demeanor. "All three of you could go back to the academy."

"Yosh!" Hotaru started stretching his legs out before looking back up and grinning, "I'll be the first to get one of those bells!"

"As if! Ginskunku and I are a team, no one could beat the two of us!" Hana challenged.

"Fine then, let's make a bet!" Hotaru's eyes gleamed fiercely

"What are the stakes?" Hana said with just as much ferocity in her voice.

"Whoever doesn't get a bell has to walk a hundred laps around the village on their hands!" Ryo suddenly offered.

Hana and Hotaru stared at Ryo in disbelief before hardening their gazes and saying "Fine!" at the same time.

"I assume you're finished?" Konohamaru piped up." When the kids simply stared at them with rock hard gazes he smiled and said, "START!"

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STORY /\(o^_^o)/\ BREAK

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Ryo was crouched on a tree branch keeping her eyes focused on Konohamaru. He was standing still, but Ryo could tell he was looking for the hidden genin. From her vantage point she could see Hotaru trying to sneak up behind Konohamaru with a kunai. She wasn't surprised when the jounin disappeared only to reappear behind the genin holding his hand behind his back. Suddenly the only thing that was behind Hotaru was a log with multiple shuriken protruding from it. She heard rustling leaves as Hana, who undoubtedly threw the shurikens, was leaving from her hiding place that she was sure Konohamaru had located.

Ryo began jumping from tree to tree searching for the missing jounin. She came she stopped suddenly when she saw him moving just enough to dodge each of Hotaru's attacks. She saw Hana dart across from one tree to another bouncing off the ground directly in Konohamaru's line of sight. As much as it puzzled Ryo, Hana didn't stop there; she continued darting back on forth throughout the trees surrounding Konohamaru occasionally throwing shuriken that the jounin smoothly dodged. Once Hana landed on the tree that Ryo was sitting on but she had apparently decided not to do it again because afterwards she avoided the tree.

When Hana threw one last kunai Ryo didn't think anything of it until she looked closer and saw an explosion tag wrapped around the handle. Konohamaru calmly bounded away from the explosion thinking as little about it as Ryo until he realized he had fallen into Hana's trap. In jumping the direction he had he set off another explosion forcing him where Hana and Ginskunku were heading with Gatsuuga. Konohamaru tried jumping away, but Hotaru chose that moment to grab ahold of him from behind keeping his hands apart, preventing from forming seals to use jutsu. If Ryo had waited even a second longer Konohamaru would have gotten away as she jumped and grabbed a bell at the same time as Hana. Hotaru realized he hadn't gotten a bell and had been about to open his mouth and complain when Ryo threw the bell she obtained at him. He caught it with a confused look on his face as he saw Ryo looking at the hand she had used to grab the bell with a frustrated look on her face. It disappeared quickly though as she turned and grinned at Hana and Hotaru, who now stood next to each other, and said, "Aw, well. Looks like I lost the bet. As soon as sensei lets us go I'll start my hundred laps!"

"What are you talking about?!" Hotaru asked angrily, "You got this bell first! I should be the one walking one hundred laps!"

Ryo was surprised by his anger but kept up her cheerful demeanor, "I didn't deserve to have the bell. I didn't do anything." She glanced from Hotaru to Hana and back again, "You guys did all the work, you deserve the prize, simple as that."

Hotaru was still angry, but decided it was useless to argue with the stubborn girl. "Fine, we'll both do the hundred laps." He compromised

"Well that's not fair!" Hana abruptly interjected, "You guys will have more training that way! Yup, I've decided. I will also walk the hundred laps on my hands; no way am I falling behind you two!"

Konohamaru looked at the three genin proudly, "Congratulations! You all pass!"

"But I didn't get a bell." Ryo tried to keep her voice monotone, but couldn't suppress the surprise in her voice.

Konohamaru looked at her affectionately, "This test was never about getting a bell. It was about teamwork. You three showed that you guys could work together and put each other before yourself, so, you pass!"

"YES!" He pointed at Ryo and then at Hana, "I will surpass both of you and move on to become Hokage." He looked up at the sky beaming with happiness, "You hear me! I will become the strongest!"

Hana giggled while Ryo smiled at him. "You still going to do the one hundred laps with me?"

He looked back at her with a Cheshire cat grin, "You bet'cha!"

"Then let's make it a race, whoever is the last to finish all one hundred laps has to do an extra ten laps!"

Hana looked at her with disbelief for a moment before her faced morphed into a determined one, "Deal!"

Hotaru grinned at the two of them before announcing, "I'm gonna make you eat your words!"

The three genin dashed to where they decided to start their race together they said, "Ready, set… GO!"

* * *

**A/N: So that's at least a little more info about how the genin fight. Sorry you didn't see Ryo fight, but there was a reason for that. Do you guys think Hotaru is too much like Naruto? I don't think he is, but i wanna hear your guys' opinion. Please R&R to show your support and tell me what you think.**

**On a different note. I think my story break looks like a pig so I've decided that it must be Shizune's pig Tonton ^0^  
**


	3. Stranger

**A/N: The chapter is released on Thursday like I promised ^_^ You get to meet a couple more characters in this chapter (Although one of them is asleep) so enjoy ^_~  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto characters, only the many OCs in this fanfic.  
**

* * *

The next morning Ryo woke up before the sun rose. When she walked to the dining room for some breakfast she wasn't surprised to see Lee and her little brother, Gai. "Morning sis!" Gai greeted her cheerfully.

She ruffled the boy's hair while she grabbed a piece of his toast, "So how's the training going?" She asked

He grinned, "Great! Pretty soon I bet I can beat you!"

"As if!" she pretended to be offended.

"How do you know? You never train with us anymore!"

She smiled at him with a twinge of sadness in her eyes, "Sorry kid, I have my own special training to do. Besides," She said her joyfulness coming back, "There's no way dad could train us both at the same time!" She leaned into Gai's ear to whisper, "He isn't as youthful as he thinks."

Gai burst out laughing at her comment. Lee looked between the two with a confused expression on his face, "What are you two whispering about?" He asked playfully.

"Nothing!" The two said suspiciously; Lee gave them a look.

"Gotta go!" Ryo called as she dashed out.

Ryo jumped on top of houses until she reached the forest. Once there she activated her sharingan, testing it by catching birds. She used the sharingan to predict where the bird would go next until she caught it. Eventually she cursed out loud, "Damn these eyes! No matter how powerful they are they do nothing to help me if cannot use them in front of people." She thought back to during the test that Konohamaru had them participate in. She had done nothing but watch in a tree while Hana and Hotaru did all the work. "Damn it!" She cursed again.

She took her anger out on the trees surrounding her, few were left untouched. She had created a whole clearing before she sat down, her anger dissipated but her frustrations just as large. Unbeknownst to her a pair of eyes were watching her in amusement. A boy a few years older than her chuckled while he thought, "Father, I have a little sister."

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STORY /\(o^_^o)/\ BREAK

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After her hours of practicing Ryo headed toward the Hokage tower to get her first mission with her team; once there she saw her sensei reminiscing with the Hokage about "old times". She knew the Hokage was only as old as her mother, in fact his son was the same age as her. She used to hang out with Minato, but the boy started to listen to a bunch of other kids about "cooties" while he obviously didn't believe in cooties now the two had just never reconnected after that.

Minutes after she arrived Hana and Hotaru rowdily walked in together. "So where have you two been off to _together_?" she asked them

Hana looked up not catching what she was implying, "Oh, Hotaru asked me to wake him up because his alarm broke." Hotaru blushed when Ryo smirked at him.

All of them snapped to attention when Konohamaru asked, "Are you guys ready for your first mission?"

"Yes, sir!" They replied in unison.

"Good, because we have some gardening to do." He motioned for them to follow as he walked out the door.

When the team arrived at a farm Hotaru stared at Konohamaru in disbelief. When he didn't say anything Hotaru asked hopefully, "So are we guarding a farmer or something?"

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow, "I told you. We're gardening."

"What!?" Hotaru was horrified, "But we're _ninja_ and ninja are meant for _battle _not gardening!"

"Yeah!" Hana agreed while Ryo just stood there watching the conversation.

"Didn't Shikamaru teach you _anything_ while you were in the academy?" Konohamaru questioned them, "Ninja are hired for various missions. As genin who are just out of academy you will get the easiest missions. Right now that's gardening so let's get to work."

The genin reluctantly began weeding out the weeds. Ryo did her best to identify the herbs that her mother taught her to ease her boredom. Hana looked at a book the client had given her so she could tell the difference between the weeds and the herbs. Hotaru told her he was so smart he wouldn't need a book but continuously peeked over at Hana's when he thought no one was looking.

They had been on a few other easy missions since then. Some of the time they were walking dogs, other times they were babysitting. One after another they were always easy and boring.

Once they were heading back from another mission that had them slightly outside of the village; they headed home like any other mission, Hana and Hotaru grumbling about the mission being too easy and not a ninja mission. Along the way Konohamaru stopped suddenly. Hotaru and Ryo looked at him curiously but Hana quickly jumped down from the tree they stopped at and rushed over to an injured boy who must have been about sixteen. "He's lost a lot of blood." Hana informed the jounin as he walked up behind her.

"Let's get him back to the village." Konohamaru ordered and picked up the boy. The genin nodded and followed him their pace quicker than before.

When they arrived at the hospital Ryo quickly sought out her mother. As Sakura looked over the boy's wounds Ryo turned over to Hana, "How did you know he was there?"

Hana grinned at pointed to her nose, "We Inuzukas have the best noses in the village. That amount of blood wasn't hard to find."

Sakura turned over to the ninjas, "His wounds are serious but nothing life threatening. When he wakes up I will take him to Ino to ask some questions. You did a good job bringing him to me."

Once the three genin left Konohamaru walked over to Sakura, "Why would you take him to Ino? By the looks of it he isn't a ninja."

Sakura sighed, "Some of his injuries… They look like they were caused by lightning."

Konohamaru tensed, "Sasuke?"

Sakura nodded gravely, "He might have returned."

Sakura normally wouldn't have thought much about the civilian but with the possibility that Sasuke had delivered the wounds she couldn't think lightly of the situation. Even more puzzling was the fact that the civilian was alive. Sasuke could have easily killed a civilian and she knew he wouldn't hesitate to do so. As far as she knew the last person that Sasuke had let live: was her. If Sasuke really was this close to the village he could be checking to see if Sakura really did bear his child; Sasuke coming after Ryo frightened her more than anything, and she couldn't do anything about it.

* * *

STORY /\(o^_^o)/\ BREAK

* * *

One might not expect Ryo to get along well with Shikari. She wasn't the true heir of the Nara clan because she had an older sister, but she inherited most of its carefree laziness. Shikari was Ryo's best friend though. After leaving the hospital she decided to visit her friend knowing she would be on a roof somewhere watching clouds. It didn't take her long to find the girl.

Shikari glanced up at the pinkette who had decided to come and see her and lazily lifted her hand up in a wave. Shikari had long black hair that she kept in a ponytail. She wore a green shirt, that complemented her light green eyes, under a black poncho. Her pants were also black. She wore her headband loosely around her neck like her mother did during the chuunin exams. Ryo grinned and rushed down to lay beside the girl. "How's it going?" she asked cheerfully.

"Same old same old," Shikari replied. "Missions can be somewhat annoying with a couple of troublesome twins on your team." Ryo giggled at her friend's obvious annoyance of her teammates. Ino-Shika-Cho was a tradition in Konoha. Somehow Ino and Choji managed to have twins, a boy and a girl, at the same time Temari and Shikamaru had Shikari. As a result Shikari got to be the inheritor of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation rather than Ami, her older sister. Shikari would explain as she _had _to be not got to be. "Anyway, how was your first mission with your team? Anything interesting?"

Ryo thought for a moment, "The mission wasn't really interesting, it was just pulling weeds, but on the way back we saw a guy bloody on the side of the road and brought him back for mom to patch up."

This perked Shikari's interest. The girl was lazy, that was for sure, but she was also almost always bored and looked for anything to ease her boredom. Bloody strangers certainly seemed interesting, "What did he look like?"

"Hmm, well he was a couple years older than us with black somewhat spikey hair. He was obviously a civilian with the clothes he wore. I didn't exactly get a good look at him though because we wanted to get him back to the village quickly."

"Maybe we can go talk to him later. You know, figure out what happened to him." Shikari suggested.

"Sure, that sounds like a good way to pass the time."

"Now that that talk is out of the way…" Shikari paused and leaned in toward Ryo, "are you getting any better with _that_?"

Ryo stiffened. Shikari had been the only one she let know about the sharingan. She knew Shikari could keep a secret, she held on to many of Ryo's secrets. "It doesn't matter." Ryo muttered, "I can't use it anyway so it's useless." The confused look on Shikari's face made Ryo go further into detail. "If any of the jounin who know about _him _see it they will know what it is. I don't know what they would do to mom so I won't let them see it. End of story."

"But didn't you say having it was the only way to beat him?" The confusion on Shikari's face was also laced through her words.

Ryo sighed, "Yeah. From the research I've done on it and him the only way I could ever beat him was to use it, but it also feels like cheating. Using something the man I detest gave to me just feels so _wrong_, you know?"

Shikari nodded understandingly, "Well, we'll just have to improve your regular jutsus. What fighting style should we work on?"

Ryo thought for a moment, "My best one is genjutsu my second best is definitely taijustsu, but I also want to use ninjutsu… Ugh, I can't decide."

Shikari contemplated her words, "Well, from the research we have done he will be able to easily manipulate your genjutsu so that's out." Shikari looked crestfallen, "Taijutsu is good, because his sh-jutsu" she caught herself before she said _sharingan_, "might be able to follow it but he might not be able to keep up with your speed," Shikari was reasoning everything out, "We should throw in some ninjutsu too because just to make sure your well rounded and can fight everyone. I suggest you train with your mom and dad to improve your taijutsu. I'll think some more before I decide your ninjutsu sensei, so we'll come back to that, okay?"

Ryo nodded almost imperceptibly before voicing, "Okay."

"Perfect!"

.

.

.

"Look it's a teapot!" Shikari pointed to the clouds. Ryo smiled knowing how easy it was for her friend to go from a really heavy subject to a light one in seconds. They laid beside each other on the roof for hours pointing out different objects in the clouds

* * *

**A/N: Okay so as you can see my chapters are getting longer. My goal for this chapter was 2,000 words, but I only managed 1,800(chapter four had about 1,300 words). So anyone who has read my previous chapters might realize I'm a bit impatient so I am considering releasing chapters twice a week instead of once. If I do I will release them on Tuesdays and Fridays because that's when I have time to write them. It's your guys' choice so R&R to let me know what you think and to show your support ^_^  
**

**Also special thanks to Rosebunse for being with this story from the very beginning it truly makes me ecstatic that people enjoy my fanfic.  
**


	4. Mission prep

**A/N: Alright so I didn't get a lot of feedback about how often I should update my chapters, so, because I am the impatient person I am, I will update twice a week starting now. You won't get to meet any new characters in this chapter, but you will finally get to hear Wataru talk. Happy Tuesday, and... onto the story ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto characters, only the many OCs in this fanfic  
**

* * *

When Wataru woke up in a hospital he knew his mission was a success. He shifted his gaze to the door when he heard it open.

"Ah, you're awake." Said a long haired blonde, "My name is Ino Yamanaka, May ask you a few questions?" Wataru nodded his head. "Okay so first, what is your name?"

"Wataru." He forced himself to speak softly, as if he was scared.

Ino smiled, trying to be reassuring, "A team of novice ninja." Wataru made himself flinch at the word 'ninja' Ino continued talking as if she hadn't seen it, "found you on the side of a street badly injured. Can you tell us how this happened?"

Wataru visibly started shivering making it look like he was terrified at the memory he was calling up, "He had spiky black hair and could make lightning on his hands. But the worst was his eyes… They were glowing red like a demon's. I thought he was going to kill me, but he suddenly stopped and ran off looking like someone had called him…"

Ino could easily picture the man the boy was describing. She had seen him many times. She smiled at the boy bidding him thanks and farewell as she went to report to Sakura and the Hokage that Sasuke was near the village.

Wataru wordlessly watched Ino leave. He suppressed a malicious grin for fear of ninjas watching the room. He had succeeded in infiltrating Konoha and sent the message to Sakura that Sasuke wanted his daughter. Everything was going according to plan.

He heard the door open again and was expecting to see Sakura. Instead, he saw two girls; one of which looked very much like Sakura when she was younger. Wataru could tell immediately that it was Ryo, partially because it wasn't the first time he saw her. The other girl sported black hair and a poncho. Wataru kept his expression neutral as the girls approached his bed.

Ryo walked up to the boy, "So what's your name?"

Wataru looked at her curiously, "Wataru," He told her slowly "Who are you?"

"I'm Ryo and this is Shikari" She motioned to Shikari "I was on the team who found you. It was my mom who patched you up and made you good as new." She sounded chipper, but Wataru could tell she was just waiting to ask the question that really bugged her.

"Oh thanks. Is your mother Ino?" Wataru knew that wasn't the case, but seeing as he never actually talked to Sakura or supposed to have seen her he couldn't make any mistakes.

"No, I guess you didn't meet her yet. My mother is Sakura."

"Hey um, no one's actually told me. Where am I?"

Ryo smiled at him, "You're in the hospital of the village hidden in the leaves, otherwise known as Konoha."

"Thanks." He smiled at her.

"Um, so, can I ask you a question?" she inquired hesitantly.

"sure."

"Who did this to you?"

Wataru suppressed a smile and made himself freeze as if in fear, "I don't know his name."

"Could you describe him?" Shikari ventured

"His hair was dark and spiky. He could hold lightning in his hands. But his eyes…"

Sakura chose that moment to walk into the room, "What are you girls doing in here?" she asked curiously.

"Uh, nothing mom, we're leaving actually. See ya later." Ryo told her before rushing out of the room.

"They weren't bothering you were they?" Sakura asked Wataru politely.

"No, not at all," Wataru assured her. "You must be Sakura."

"Yes, how'd you know?"

"Your daughter told me; the resemblance is easy to spot."

Sakura smiled. "Well, I came to tell you that you are ready to be released from the hospital. I would suggest staying in the village though, the one who attacked you could still be out there but here we can protect you."

"Thank you." Wataru offered politely

"Just doing my job." She told him kindly.

**Meanwhile**

Ryo and Shikari had made their way back to the roof. "He didn't get to finish talking, but do you think he might have been talking about the _that _when he was talking about his _eyes_?" Ryo tried to keep a calm demeanor but Shikari could tell she was nervous about talking about the sharingan.

"He might have been. The spiky hair part certainly fits. What kind of jutsus did you say _he_ uses?"

"Ummm, well his family all use fire type jutsus. I'm not sure what jutsus _he _specifically uses. A lot of the information on him is top secret."

"Then I don't know whether or not it could be him. He didn't say anything about fire type jutsus, only about holding lightning in his hands which is definitely a lightning type jutsu."

"I'm going to go out of the village tonight to get a look around." Ryo announced

"Are you kidding!? I want to find out as much as you do, but we are still genin! You could be killed by him!" Shikari exclaimed frantically

"I know, but… What else can I do? I _know _he hurt my mother and that isn't something I can easily forgive."

"Just calm down, we can talk to Wataru again and figure out what he was going to say about the eyes. No matter what we can't just rush in to attack _him _yet, but if it turns out that it was _him_ we will have gained some valuable information."

"Fine…" Ryo reluctantly agreed.

* * *

STORY /\(o^_^o)/\ BREAK

* * *

The next morning Ryo was late on her way to meeting her team to get their next mission; she had been lost in her thoughts while training. What she saw when she arrived should not have been surprising. Hana and Hotaru were arguing with the Hokage trying to get a more difficult mission. Hana and Hotaru were voicing their hatred of easy missions. Ryo didn't like the easy missions either, but had decided to keep quiet about; she wanted to stay on the Hokage's good side in hopes of later being able to obtain information on Sasuke.

Naruto sighed, when he was a genin he had fought the Hokage about getting a better mission too. The Hokage had given in, but he ended up on a far more dangerous mission than was expected. He was the Hokage now, and the decision was all his to make. He held back another sigh before giving in, "Alright, I will give you C-Rank mission."

"YES!" Hana and Hotaru chorused, Ryo didn't say anything, but her smile proved she was just as ecstatic. Even Konohamaru was beaming. "What will our mission be?" Hotaru asked quickly.

Naruto looked at the three, "You will escort a salesman to the hidden sand village." He could only hope that the salesman wasn't lying when he said he only expected bandits. He didn't want it to turn out like when he escorted Tazuna the bridge builder to the wave country. The reason he decided to let them escort the salesman was because he could call upon the sand village for help if necessary.

Hotaru cheered, "We get to leave the village for real now.; not just go to some farm!"

Naruto sighed, "You didn't let me finish." The genin looked at him questioningly. "You will go with Team Asuma on this mission." He announced

Ryo face grew into a huge smile, team Asuma was the team that Shikari was on; Konohamaru was happy too. Asuma was the only family he had left after his Grandfather and the original Asuma died. He got along with Asuma's only son and thought of him much like a nephew.

Still, Konohamaru was worried, so while the three genin talked animatedly about the mission he walked over to Naruto. "Are you sure you want to send them out of the village when Sasuke might be out there?"

Naruto looked at his younger friend, "The only thing I'm sure of is Sasuke left a civilian alive and ran off; I don't think he did that without reason, so I doubt he is still around. Also, that is why I sent Team Asuma on this mission as well. Use it to catch up with him."

Konohamaru nodded his head once at the Hokage before turning toward his team, "Alright guys!" His demeanor didn't show a hint of the worry he had spoken to Naruto about, "Get ready so we can head out!"

* * *

STORY /\(o^_^o)/\ BREAK

* * *

"Mom! Dad!" Ryo shouted when she had arrived home. The two ninjas hadn't been assigned a mission on the particular day and Ryo was excited to tell them about her first C-Rank mission.

"What is it, honey?" Sakura asked, emerging from the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah, what is it?" Gai shouted when he came in from outside with Lee.

"I've been assigned a C-Rank mission!" Ryo told them all excitedly.

"Really!? What is your mission!?" Lee was obviously enthusiastic about his daughter's first C-Rank mission.

"I have to escort a trader all the way to Sunagakure! And I get to go with Team Asuma!"

Sakura did her best to talk to excitedly with the rest of the family but she knew that Sasuke could still be out there and she didn't want to risk her daughter, or any of her friends, being hurt by him. She didn't think that he would truly hurt Ryo, but kidnapping could always be a possibility. Ryo noticed her mother's lack of input in the discussion, but she was far too excited for the mission to think anything of it.

After talking with her family about it she was just as excited to see if her best friend had been informed about the mission they were assigned together. She did the same thing she always did when looking for her friend: jumped across the roofs. She had come to discover Shikari's favorite area was the edge of the village farthest away from the Nara home.

She found Shikari on a roof, barely awake, with a huge smile on her face. Ryo knew immediately that her friend had been informed of the dual mission. Ryo rushed over to her, "aren't you excited!?" she asked the lazy genin.

"Geez, loud much?" Shikari glared at her friend before breaking into grin, "Of course I'm excited! I'm going to Sunagakure; it's where most of my family lives!"

"I know! I've never been there so you will have to introduce me to everyone!"

"But that'll require walking…" Shikari was grumbling but Ryo could tell her friend was being sarcastic. Shikari had always loved her family in Sunagakure, as much as she inherited from the Nara clan she had gotten most of her family, her _love_, from the sand village.

Ryo hugged her best friend gleefully before grabbing Shikari's hand and dragging her towards the Ryo's house. "Let's go get ready!" she exclaimed.

Shikari, unable to make any other expression, had a smile so large you might think it would fall off of her face.

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**A/N: This chapter was once again about 1,800 words. The chapters will probably stay about this long, but if you think they should be longer or shorter you can tell me it in a review. Also congratulations if you have guessed who Wataru is. For those who haven't that's okay, nobody in the village know either ^_^ Anyways Review to show your support ^_^**

**Okay because I'm impatient I have a proposition for you guys... If I get at least five reviews on this chapter I will do a double post on Friday...  
**


	5. S-Class mission!

**A/N: Yay you get to meet more characters during this chapter ^_^ I personally think the two teams in this chapter are probably my two favorite. After this chapter you only have three more of the rookie nine to meet.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto characters, only the many OCs in this fanfic.  
**

* * *

Team Konohamaru stood inside the village gate waiting for Team Asuma; who was supposed to escort the salesman when they came. Ryo was doing _another_ last minute check on her supplies. She had heard a lot about C missions gone wrong, the most famous being the tale of The Great Naruto Bridge when the current Hokage and his team had to fight an S-Class criminal. As such Ryo refused to be unprepared… for anything.

As she finished checking her supplies she heard bickering, "baka brother! That's why he is called a sales_man_ not a sales_woman_…"

"It's not _my _fault he looks like a girl… and a hot one at that."

"Ugh! You are so stupid."

"Troublesome." This was muttered by Shikari. Ryo watched as she saw team Asuma walk toward her. The two that were bickering were Inoichi Yamanaka and his twin sister Chokera Akimichi. Inoichi had blonde hair that he kept in a low ponytail. His clothes were simple and purple; at first glance you might think he was wearing them just because they were easy to train in, but anyone that knew him would know he was wearing them because they flattered his muscle tone. He wore his headband on his forehead.

In contrast his sister had a messy rusty colored hair. She was chubby like her father was. She wore a rusty colored button up dress and had the bottom buttons unbuttoned to allow easy movement underneath her dress she wore leggings. On top of her dress she wore body armor on her upper half to protect her chest. She wore her headband on her arm similar to Shikamaru.

The three were accompanied by a jounin who looked much like his late father, Asuma, and the salesman. Inoichi was right, he looked very much like a girl, maybe a flat chested girl, but still, a girl. The saleman had an annoyed look on his face, probably from being mistaken as a girl, or maybe for being talked about like he wasn't there, Ryo really wasn't sure.

Asuma tried, and failed, to calm down Chokera and Inoichi. It was obvious her personality was much like her mother's. Konohamaru and his genin team stared in disbelief as Chokera continuously criticized her brother for being a playboy, and he retorted with stupid remarks that really didn't defend his case. Finally, Shikari stepped in and hit them both upside the head. "We're about to leave on a mission, calm down." She ordered them monotonously. The two looked up and realized they were already at the village gate and rubbed their head sheepishly.

Konohamaru, finally having the attention he wanted, looked at the genin, "Our mission is to protect Hideki Suzuma on his way to the Sunagakure, or the sand village. Are you prepared?" The six genin nodded their heads. "Then let's go!"

the salesman slowed down the team greatly because he had to carry around all his wares on his back. Ryo did her best to look out for anyone, or anything, that might be dangerous. She knew she wasn't as good as a jounin in her ability to detect something watching or following her, but she hoped she was at least better than the average genin. Several times she thought she saw something, but quickly brushed it off as a bird or a rabbit, not knowing that she was being watched with great interest by a man who was extremely dangerous.

Konohamaru could tell they were being watched, but he couldn't tell by who or where. As much as he wanted to pass it off as paranoia from the probable Sasuke attack he knew it wasn't that. He also knew it wasn't a simple bandit; whoever was watching them was skilled if they were able to conceal their whereabouts from a jounin. He gave a hand signal to Asuma.

Sasuke nearly chuckled at what the jounins considered a "discreet" hand signal. It was enough that the genins that surrounded them wouldn't think anything of it, but it was like a flare to someone like him with the sharingan. Sasuke had already given his warning to Sakura that he was near. He also knew that the Hokage had probably gotten the message too. It made Sasuke come to the conclusion that his former teammate was just as stupid and rash as always to send a genin team outside of the village when he was around. However, Sasuke couldn't do anything. As much as he wanted to claim his daughter he knew her loyalty wouldn't be easy to gain. As such he conceded to wait patiently and quietly as she fulfilled her first "real" mission. The ninjas spent a day and half walking toward the hidden sand slowly.

Shikari noticed the jounin were too busy keeping a lookout to pay attention to the one they were escorting. She could tell that Hideki was growing more and more afraid the farther they got from the village which didn't make sense when he had eight ninjas protecting him when the only ones who might attack him are bandits. She knew the jounins must have been distracted to not pay any attention to the client, and she was curious what could make them so tense. Her observations had made it easy to spot the hand signal that Konohamaru had given her sensei. The secrecy had made her curious, and if it hadn't been the fact their senseis wanted to keep them in formation she would have went to talk to Ryo about her suspicions. Instead, she found herself next Chokera, someone she wasn't sure if could keep a secret with her loud mouth. "troublesome." Shikari muttered to herself quietly.

Chokera gave her teammate a confused look before Konohamaru gave a signal to stop. Shikari noticed Hideki flinch and look down to hide his face as a ninja emerged from the trees; his headband showed he was from the hidden mist village. Two more ninjas moved to stand behind him. Konohamaru looked seriously at the man waiting for an attack. He calmed slightly when the ninja in front said, "We are not here to battle you. Have you seen a woman from the water country, she was to be married to the feudal lord before she ran away which signifies high treason." Shikari kept her gaze fixed on Hideki as he grew stiffer with every word the man spoke.

Konohamaru shook his head, "No such woman has passed through these lands."

"Good day to you then." The ninja said before abruptly leaving with his companions.

The team had been about to leave again before Shikari spoke up, "Asuma sensei." He raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue speaking, "I believe this is the woman those ninja were looking for." She informed him. The look of pure horror on Hideki's face proved her theory correct

* * *

STORY /"\(o^_^o)/"\ BREAK

* * *

The ninjas had made camp and gathered forward ready to question the '_Hideki's_' motives; Konohamaru began the questioning, "What is your real name?"

The girl remained silent for a few moments before speaking softly, "Hikari."

"What are you doing running away from marriage with the feudal lord?"

Her gaze hardened at this question, "The feudal lord's a pig." She spat. "He has ten wives already and I don't plan to be another conquest."

"Why head to the Sunagakure if you're already safely hidden in Konoha?"

Hikari smirked at him, "Haven't you figured it out yet? You are a jounin aren't you?"

He glared at her, so Shikari spoke up again, "She is a spy for the hidden sand." The jounin looked at her and thought about her heritage in Sunagakure, "Look I didn't know it before! I just came to the logical conclusion that you couldn't because you're too worried about something watching us!" The jounins' eyes widened at her statement. "Yeah, I could tell. So you wanna tell us what's going on?"

Konohamaru sighed, "Calm down. Right now that isn't important. Since we are actually closer to the hidden sand than to Konoha I will send a message to the Hokage to get orders on what we should do next. We don't want bad relations with the hidden mist." Konohamaru bit his thumb and summoned a toad; he gave the toad a message for Naruto. They waited for a few minutes before the toad reappeared with the Naruto's reply. Konohamaru visibly stiffened as he read the Hokage's reply. "Listen up," he announced, "We will follow through with this mission. However, it is now an S-Class mission due to its connections with other villages. You all know S-Class missions normally are given to ANBU to handle, therefore we must all keep our wits about us during this mission. Got it!?" Everybody nodded, including Hikari.

The ninja kept close on their guard the entire way to Sunagakure. Luckily, after the first encounter with hidden mist ninjas they hadn't encountered anymore; they were in the clear. Shikari smiled as she walked into the village that she considered her second home. Even though Temari had moved to Konoha to be with Shikamaru she still had a connection with her birthplace, a connection she shared with her children. "We should report to kazekage about this mission correct?" Shikari did her best to keep her voice neutral but her happiness that she felt at the chance to see her uncle seeped into her words.

Konohamaru nodded, "Lead the way." He directed

She grinned at him, "gladly." Shikari easily maneuvered around the sandy terrain to the kazekage tower. She walked in unannounced and glomped the kazekage in a rare show of love. Gaara had looked surprised at first but immediately broke into a warmed smile as he hugged her back. The Kazekage realized it was business though when seven other ninjas walked in along with a spy he had sent to the rain country.

Konohamaru was the first to speak, "We came from the hidden leaf originally to escort a traveling salesman. Apparently that wasn't the case, though."

Gaara nodded before speaking, "Yes she was our spy. I assume you have filled your Hokage in on the details she told you?" Konohamaru nodded, and Gaara resumed speaking, "Then we should talk about everything else you may tell your village." He turned toward Shikari, "Meanwhile you can show everyone else around the village."

"Sure, uncle Gaara. Is uncle Kankuro in the village right now?" Shikari asked, still grinning. The Kazekage nodded. "Let's go guys!" Shikari shouted to the other genin before running off toward Kankuro's house.

When Kankuro answered the door when he heard a doorbell he was greeted with a bear hug. Looking down at the girl who was hugging him he broke into a large smile as he hugged her back. "Hey Shikari, nice to see you." He told her lovingly.

"Hey, uncle Kankuro, these are my friends: Inoichi, Chokera, Hana, Hikaru, and Ryo. Guys, this is my uncle Kankuro." She introduced everyone.

"Nice to meet you all." Kankuro told them politely.

Suddenly Shikari rushed into the house yelling, "YOSHI!" before she ran and hugged a boy so suddenly he almost fell over. Throughout all of this Chokera and Inoichi looked dumbstruck at the fact that their lazy teammate could be so loud.

The seven genin (Yoshi is a genin) and Kankuro all sat and talked with each other for a while. Shikari had apparently forgotten in the midst of hanging out with her family she hadn't seen a while, but Ryo was bothered that the two jounin team leaders hadn't told them why they were so worried about someone following them _before _they found Hikari was a spy. She didn't tell anyone else though because she was still extremely happy to meet her best friend's family and did her best to push her suspicions from her mind.

Once the jounins were done talking to the Kazekage they headed out to collect their teams. However, once seeing how happy they were getting along with Kankuro and his son they decided to hold off one more night and leave in the morning. Konohamaru sent out the details of what he had talked about with the Kazekage and told him they would head back first thing in the morning.

* * *

**A/N Sorry if the ending of this chapter was boring, I was actually having problems deciding how to wrap this chapter up because the next one is _very _important. It will affect the entire story. Anyway we get to see another side of Shikari in this chapter, honestly that wasn't the plan but my fingers just typed so I went along with it. So, please review to show your support because I'm not getting a lot of reviews. Oh and guess what! This is my longest chapter it exceeded 2,000 words yay!**

**So you guys may have noticed that there is only one chapter this time... I only got one review so... Also, I combined the first three chapters into one chapter, but they are still exactly the same that's why it looks like there is less chapters rather than more...**


	6. Blinded

**A/N: Okay so I told you this chapter was important and would affect the entire story so here it is ^^**

**Warning: Some of this is somewhat gory... I will put a warning before hand and a place where you can skip to to get past the gory parts.  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto characters only the many OCs in this fanfic  
**

* * *

The group left at dawn the next morning. They chatted good-naturedly throughout the trip. Chokera kept pestering her brother for hitting on all the girls in Sunagakure and Inoichi replied saying she was only jealous that they liked him. Hana and Hotaru challenged each other to various contests throughout the trip like who could climb a tree the fastest or if they could jump to a branch that was farther away. Overall the trip was uneventful. After they got to the village they went to the Hokage to get their pay and then went their separate ways, mostly to tell their parents what happened on the trip.

**The next day**

Hana got up early to train with Ginskunku like she always did. She jumped from tree to tree trying teaching Ginskunku to mark the trees like her father and Akamaru did as genin. It was completely unexpected when a hand hit her head and she found herself losing consciousness as a hand wrapped around her body taking her away. She was only able to give a pleading look to Ginskunku before she fell into darkness.

* * *

**Gory part starts here...**

* * *

When she woke up she found herself tied to a chair and surrounded by hidden mist ninjas. "You thought you were so clever telling us you didn't know where she was when you were escorting her, didn't you." One of them spoke. "Tell us, where did you take the girl?"

Hana spat at the man and replied, "I'm not telling you anything!"

"We aren't kind ninja. We will cut you up little girl, so tell us! Where is she?" Hana spat at the man again, so he nodded his head toward another man there. The second man held a knife and leaned down toward Hana and sliced a long gash down her arm; Hana bit back her screams. "Now are you gonna tell us where she is?" The first man asked with a sadistic smile.

Hana stared into the man's eyes and said "I am a ninja of the hidden leaf village, and I will tell you nothing!"

"Oh.." He replied, "Then let's make it so you can't be a ninja anymore." He turned to the man with the knife, "Cut an eye out, then maybe she'll talk." Hana stared at the man willing him not to do it, but he came and carefully gouged out an eye with the knife. Hana did her best not to scream but the sound still escaped her lips. "What about now, girl? Will you tell us where you took her?"

Hana stared at the man with her one eye blood pouring out of her empty socket and said, "I am a ninja of the hidden leaf village, and I will tell you nothing."

The man looked at her, "Tell us now or we will remove other eye!" Hana only stared at him. The man motioned to the other man again, so he once again, began to cut deliberately at her other eye.

* * *

**Gory part ends here.**

**Summary: Hana was kidnapped by hidden mist ninjas and questioned about the woman she escorted before. When she would tell them where she took her they cut her eyes out.  
**

* * *

**Meanwhile**

Ryo, Hotaru, and Konohamaru were wondering where Hana was. She never showed up late; in fact, she was usually early. Still she should have been there fifteen minutes ago but she wasn't. They were relieved when they saw Ginskunku walk into the room until they saw Kiba rushing in after her instead of Hana. "Hokage sama!" Kiba yelled frantically, "Hana was taken by ninjas!"

The group's eyes widened in disbelief, but Naruto skillfully overtook the situation, "Can you track her down with your nose?"

"Yes sir. I have a general idea where she is, but I needed to report to you."

"Team Konohamaru, this is an emergency mission. Go with Kiba to locate your missing team member and bring her back safely." Naruto ordered

"Yes sir!" They all replied before following Kiba quickly to where Hana was being held captive.

"Just tell us girl! It's not like you can be a ninja anymore with no eyes anyway!" The man questioning Hana was getting fed up with Hana eyeless stare. Still, Hana gave no reply as the other man continuously gave her long gashes on both her arms and legs; the torture was almost painless now.

"Sir, I don't think we are going to get any information out of her." A new voice said.

"Shut up!" The first man shouted at him. "This is important for our country, we _need _this information. Now tell us! Where is she!?" Hana still made no reply. If it wasn't for the constant rise and fall of her chest you might think she was dead.

Another man, presumably a guard, ran into the cabin where they were keeping Hana and opened his mouth to warn his comrades of the leaf shinobi that were coming, but his voice didn't have a chance to leave his mouth when kunai went through his stomach. When the dead man fell to the ground he revealed four ninjas, Kiba, Hotaru, Ryo, and Konohamaru. When Kiba saw his daughter with no eyes he rushed forward on a mad rampage ready to kill every ninja there. The other three uninjured leaf shinobi barely managed to stop him from killing every hidden mist ninja there. Once they successfully immobilized the enemy ninja Kiba gingerly picked up his daughter and carried her away. The other three ninja expertly tied up the enemy and prepared to take them back to the village for questioning.

Once back in the village they took Hana immediately to the hospital where Sakura could examine her. Sakura carefully looked at the girl and looked dreadfully back at her family who was waiting to hear the news. "I won't be able to heal her. Hana will never be able to see again."

"You're lying!" Tenten yelled frantically. "They said Lee would never be able to be a ninja again but he got back up. Surely there is _something _you can do!"

Sakura shook her head, "there is nothing."

Ryo looked at her mother, "But I've heard of ninja who have lost their eye in battle and replaced it with another eye. Like the great copy ninja Kakashi, _your _teacher, had one of his eyes replaced with a sharingan!" She pleaded desperately hoping there was something she could do for her friend.

"This is different." Sakura told them, "Kakashi's eye was only scratched. His brain was still sending signals to it. Hana's eyes were… cut out deliberately and carefully. Her brain will no longer send a signal to eyes. There is nothing we can do."

Kiba looked with a horrified expression from Sakura to his daughter and back, "Then that means…"

"Yes," Sakura finished for him, "Hana will never be able to be a ninja again."

Tenten started sobbing on her husband's chest and Kiba did his best to pat her head comfortingly, but he was just as heartbroken as she was.

"Stop!" Hana shouted surprising everyone in the room. "Aren't I an Inuzuka?" She asked.

"What…" Tenten started to ask but was cut off.

"Aren't I an Inuzuka?" Hana questioned again.

"Well yes but…" Her father began when he was interrupted.

"Are we Inuzukas known for our eyes?" Hana inquired.

"Well, no but…" Kiba tried again.

"Exactly!" Hana exclaimed, not allowing him to finish his sentence. "I will be one of the greatest ninja's with or without my sight! I have my nose and my ears and that is all I will ever need!"

"You can't fight without being able to see!" Konohamaru exclaimed. "You won't be able to see the hand signals from your team!"

Hana pointed at Ginskunku. "She can be my eyes!"

"She won't be able to tell you where every enemy is!" Konohamaru countered.

She pointed at her ears, "I told you I have my ears, and more importantly," she pointed at her nose, "I have my nose!"

"But you could die!" Tenten said frantically.

Hana voice became serious. "Any ninja can die. I knew that from the first time I entered the academy, and when dad told me my aunt that I was named after died in the great ninja war. I am not afraid of death. If I were I would still have my eyes."

Kiba wasn't sure if he should feel worried that his daughter insisted on being a ninja, even without her eyes, or proud that she insisted on persevering against all odds. Naruto, who had been standing outside the doorway throughout the conversation, walked in and faced Konohamaru, "Will you train her to be the best she can be, even without her eyes?" He asked seriously.

Konohamaru was bit taken aback but he still answered, "She will be one of the finest ninjas in the village."

Naruto broke into his signature grin despite the atmosphere in the room, "Then it's settled. Hana will continue being a ninja using every means that she has."

Hana smiled for the first time since losing her eyes, "Thanks Hokage sama!" then she turned toward Konohamaru, "When do you wanna start my training?"

Konohamaru smiled at the girl, "Whenever you're allowed off that hospital bed."

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**A/N: This chapter was kind of short... It was only 1,500 words, but it was important. I hope this chapter wasn't too much for you guys. Hana needed something that set her apart from her dad other than being female. Also I always thought it would be interesting to have a blind ninja and it made most sense for it to be an Inuzuka. Please ****_Review_** my story guys and tell me what you think ^^


	7. Learning to See

**A/N: Hey guys here is the next chapter ^_^ I like the title it really fits with last chapter and this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto characters only the many OCs in this fanfic  
**

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The next morning, instead of getting a mission, the Hokage wanted team Konohamaru to train instead because of Hana's blindness. Ryo didn't mind she needed the training anyway. She did, however, think that training with a blind person would be weird. She had done research the night before about what all effects blindness can have on a person. The thing that stuck in her head was the fact that when a person goes blind their other senses become enhanced because their body is trying to compensate for missing one sense. What worried Ryo the most was how their teamwork would be affected if they could no longer use hand signals to communicate.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard barking. She spun around to see Hana walking with Ginskunku toward the training ground. It was strange seeing Hana walk so clumsily, it was obvious she wasn't used to not being able to see yet. It was also strange having her eyes bandaged when Hana had been considered one of the more beautiful genin. Sakura had given her false eyes; she wouldn't be able to see anything but they would fill the… gaps. Hana had wanted to refuse, she thought of her missing eyes as a scar she had received from protecting her village, but for medical purposes they had to be there.

It was true too. Apparently that woman had been a spy for the hidden mist all along. She had at one point been spying on Konoha for the hidden mist. It had turned out she had been a spy for several people her loyalties always changing based on the amount people offered to pay her. Naruto had sent word to Gaara about the flipping loyalties, so the girl was now locked up in the hidden sand no longer able to spill her secrets.

"Ryo?" Ryo was brought out of her thoughts a second time when she heard her name. She turned toward Hana and smiled.

She didn't get a chance to say anything, though because Konohamaru showed up. "Alright, Hana you're with me. Ryo you can spar with Hotaru." Ryo hadn't even realized Hotaru was there because he normally wasn't so quiet, but he had been there all along waiting for everyone else.

Ryo headed toward Hotaru while Hana walked carefully over to Konohamaru. Hotaru finally snapped out of his daze and turned to Ryo, "You better not go easy on me!"

Ryo smiled at him, "But if I don't you won't last five seconds." She told him sweetly. Hotaru smirked; he had long since learned that half the time when Ryo said things like that she was joking around the same way she did with her little brother. Ryo rushed forward chakra building up in her fists. Right as she swung to hit him he disappeared only to reappear behind her. He tried to kick her but she swung her fist to the ground making him have jump back to avoid falling into the void she just made. This left them in stare down.

This time Hotaru made a move. He used the technique Konohamaru taught them all: shadow clones. He surrounded Ryo with his clones. Ryo sighed at his stupidity and made clones so that her number matched his. The Hotarus grinned before they all transformed into Ryo. His plan was simple, if she kept her clones she wouldn't know who attack, if she dissipated her clones she would be outnumbered. Ryo realized his plan and was frustrated that it would work too. Unless… She glanced toward Konohamaru who was too busy working with Hana to pay attention to them. "Hotaru you are going down." She told him before activating her sharingan. Hotaru was confused at the sudden change of color in Ryo's eyes. He quickly realized what it did, though, when Ryo easily avoided all of his clones and went straight for him. His shock didn't leave him time to dodge, and before long Ryo had him beat.

"I believe that was less than five minutes." Ryo said smiling as she offered him a hand up.

"What was that?" He asked, accepting the hand.

"What was what?" She gave a smile that made her look completely innocent. Hotaru was about to ask again, but decided against it because he knew how stubborn Ryo could be.

"Hey guys! I want to teach you something!" Konohamaru called over to them. This peaked Hotaru and Ryo's interest as they walked over to him. "I'm going to teach you how to climb trees." He told them once they were closer.

"Ummm, I can climb trees you know." Hotaru informed him

Konohamaru chuckled, "Can you do it like this?" he asked as he walked up the tree. Hotaru's jaw dropped and he shook his head. "That's what I thought." Konohamaru said smugly.

"But I don't understand the point sensei… why do we need to be able to climb a tree?" Hotaru inquired curiously

Konohamaru sighed, "Because," he explained, "You have to have a very specific amount of chakra controlled in your feet to successfully climb the tree. Also your feet are one of the hardest points in your body to focus your chakra, so this training will teach you chakra control which will allow you access to a greater number of techniques."

"Awesome!" Hotaru exclaimed.

Konohamaru smiled at him, "You guys might want to start by getting a running start first. The momentum will help you get a feel for it. Hana, I know you're still getting used to not being able to see anything, but you are getting better so I want you to try this, too."

Hana beamed at him, "Thanks Konohamaru sensei!"

"Alright guys I have to go, but I want you to stay and train for a while, okay?"

"Sure!" The three shouted back enthusiastically.

The reason Konohamaru had to leave is he saw brown bird flying in the sky signifying it was time to report for the Chunin exam. He met with several other genin team leaders once he arrived at the Hokage tower. Naruto sat behind his desk as he waited for everyone to arrive once they had he was ready to commence the meeting. "Alright guys, in two weeks we will hold the Chunin exams, here." Naruto told the group of jounin and the small number of chunin. "The other countries have been notified and the participants will be here in a week." Naruto looked at three particular jounin, "Since all genin who have completed at least eight missions are eligible to participate… Konohamaru, Asuma, Yumi, are there any genin you recommend to take the exams?"

Asuma spoke up first, "I lead team 5, Chokera Akimichi, Shikari Nara, and Inoichi Yamanaka. I, Asuma Sarutobi, nominate all three in my squad."

Next Konohamaru stepped forward, "I lead team 8, Hotaru Denshi, Hana Inuzuka, and Ryo Rock. I, Konohamaru Sarutobi, nominate all three in my squad."

Finally, Yumi spoke, "I lead team 11, Keiji Frerja, Kameko Sitogame, and Minato Uzumaki. I, Yumi Denshi, nominate all three in my squad."

Naruto looked at the three; it had been a long time since all nine of the rookie genin had been nominated to take the exam, only once since he was a genin. "Are you kidding!?" the outburst from Tenten interrupted Naruto's thoughts. "_Maybe _those other kids are ready to take the exam, and that's a _big _maybe, but Hana is _**blind**_! There is no way she is ready to take the exam!"

Konohamaru turned toward Tenten, "Hana is a capable ninja and is ready for these exams." He told her seriously.

"She still stumbles around the house! We don't know if she will ever truly be able to be a ninja!" Tenten was shouting at Konohamaru furiously.

"I don't think she is stumbling around right now. She is probably sparring with Hotaru and Ryo. In fact, she is probably holding her own against the two." His bore into Tenten's, "I know my students. She is ready."

Tenten opened her mouth to protest, but Naruto cut her off, "This is still Hana's decision in the end. She can decide whether or not she is ready. Now, I would like the other jounin leaders to tell me who they recommend."

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/\(o^_^o)/\

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Konohamaru was right; Hana _was_ sparring with her team. However, so was Tenten, she was stumbling a lot trying to keep up with her teammates. Ryo watched as Hana was walking slowly trying not to trip over the uneven ground. "Hey guys I have an idea!" Ryo announced. Hana and Hotaru stopped to look at her. "Instead of sparring how about we set up an obstacle course so Hana can get used to moving?"

Hana brightened up, "Yeah, that should really help."

"Okay, Hotaru and I will set it up and we'll take you to the starting point when we're ready, kay?" Hana nodded with a huge smile on her face. Ryo walked over to Hotaru and began to discuss plans for the obstacle course. After placing hurdles, holes, and a number of other problems for Hana to face Ryo and Hotaru each took one of Hana's arms and carefully lead her to their starting point.

Hotaru rushed to the end of the course with a timer and shouted, "On your mark, get set…. GO!" At first Hana tried to move quickly through the course but quickly gave up on the idea when she ran painfully into one of the hurdles they set up. As she moved slowly through the course Hana learned that her two teammates had set up obstacles of all different smells and sizes. The more natural smelling objects were harder to avoid because their smell blended into the forest they were in so it was harder to sense their size and shape. A couple of times she almost fell into hole, but luckily Ginskunku had warned her in time. In the end it took her almost half an hour for her to make her way through the obstacle course. Once she made her way through Hotaru rushed through and changed it so she couldn't memorize it and Ryo timed her second time through. This pattern went on for a while and Konohamaru watched from a distance with pride as Hana was getting better and faster at making her way through the ever-changing course.

Before they knew it night had fallen upon the training ground and it was time for the three genin to go home and get some rest. The three walked together for a time and they chatted animatedly about how one day Hana was going to be on a mission one day and she would freak somebody out about her being blind. Hana mentioned she had thought that if she hadn't needed fake eyes she would consider not bandaging her eyes and leaving her empty sockets on display causing her to laugh while Ryo and Hotaru to cringed. Before they separated the three agreed that the only affect Hana's loss of eyes had done was bring the team closer together, not made her weaker. The other two couldn't see Hana's uncertainty flash into her eyes before she turned and walked home.

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**A/N: For those of you who were wondering, this is still Ryo's story, but Hana of course is also a main character. How Hana deals with her new situation will of course affect Ryo, especially with the chunin exams coming up.^_^**

**By the way.. I'm not getting a whole lot of reviews and you guys don't need to put a whole lot into it, but I would really appreciate just putting a little something so I know people are still interested, because that is what keeps me going ^_^**


	8. Training for the Exams

**A/N: Yay we are getting farther into my chunin exam arc ^_^ We get to see something lovely from Hotaru today, but I wont say what cuz you guys can read it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto characters. Also Toora isn't entirely mine, but a friend's from school.**

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There were mixed reactions when Konohamaru told the team about the upcoming chunin exams. Hotaru's was just like anybody would expect it to be: loud cheers of excitement. Even Ryo, despite her attempts to hold it back, let out an enthusiastic squeal. But while those two were lost in their enthusiasm, Konohamaru's gaze lingered on Hana's uncertain eyes. He wanted so badly to tell her it was all right; that she could easily pass the chunin exams, but he couldn't. The exams were dangerous, and unless she could determine on her own that she was ready, she wasn't.

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/\(o^_^o)/\

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Ryo headed toward the training ground, determined to be completely prepared for the chunin exams. When she arrived she stopped short. She wasn't used to anybody else being at the training grounds so late, especially not Hana stumbling around on the obstacle course she thought up. What surprised her even more was that Hana was going through without Ginskunku on her head. Instead the dog pup stayed behind her master and struggled to change the course behind as she went.

Ryo watched behind a tree for a little before Hana's exasperated voice rang out, "Ryo, I can smell you." Ryo sheepishly emerged from the forest into the clearing as Hana sighed and sat down for a break.

"Do you know what time it is?" Ryo wasn't asking for herself, but rather to see if Hana knew that it was already dark.

"Hm… Judging by the temperature and bug sounds I'd say around nine give or take a few minutes." Ryo gawked at how easily Hana had answered the question. "Just kidding," Hana said with a huge grin plastered on her face, "I know you come every day around nine."

Ryo gave the girl a curious look, "How did you know that?"

Hana shrugged, "Hotaru was trying to cheer me up."

"And?" Ryo prompted, hoping for more information.

"He came into the hospital to visit me while I was failing at trying to learn to walk again. I was frustrated and felt useless when I kept bumping into one object after another; I was starting to think I would never be a ninja again." She gave a bitter smile before continuing, "He picked me up after I fell on the ground for the hundredth time and carried me all the way here. I couldn't see, but I could smell you and hear your constant and frustrated cursing while you struggled to learn a new jutsu. At first I was angry that I was blind and confined to a hospital bed and your greatest source of concern was your inability to master the jutsu." Hana's truthful words made Ryo feel guilty. "Then Hotaru told me that you came every night and woke up extremely early and would practice the same jutsu for hours, and that you never gave up." Ryo was curious as to how Hotaru knew her training habits when he so obviously couldn't get up that early. She decided not to let her thoughts interrupt Hana, though. "He told me even geniuses need practice." Hana continued, not being able to see the questions in Ryo's gaze. "At the time it inspired me; I thought I could learn to be a ninja in a new way." Hana's voice started to crack with her next words, "But look at me!" Ryo could tell that Hana would be crying if she had the ability to do so. "I'm still stumbling around a week before the chunin exams! Konohamaru sensei recommended me, but I can't do anything!"

Ryo did her best to keep her voice light, "Let's play hide and seek." Ryo hadn't realized how important eyes were to reading a person's face until she had no idea what Hana was thinking when she nodded. Still, she kept her voice chipper when she said, "Okay, Ginskunku can play, too, and I'll be it first." She closed her eyes before she began counting. Hana and Ginskunku had hidden well, and it took Ryo a good fifteen minutes to find them.

When it came to Ryo's turn to hide she hid well, but she knew various other better hiding places. Hana easily found Ryo using her nose, allowing Ryo to put her plan into action. She complained that it was too easy for Hana to find them and convinced her to be it again. If it wasn't for the fact that Hana had found her in a little over a minute, and even most of that had been walking to get there, she probably wouldn't have agreed, but as it stood she didn't mind being the seeker again. Ryo hid in a better hiding spot than before, but it still didn't take long for Hana to follow her nose to her location. Ryo continuously complained that Hana should seek more often, and Hana agreed pretty easily for the most part, and even though Ryo and Ginskunku did seek part of the time, Hana did most of the finding. Ryo continuously hid in places that were more concealing and harder to reach, and each time Hana found her with ease.

Ryo could only hope that Hana had gotten the message when she left the training ground telling Hana (by way of complaining) that when she was in last hiding spot not even her father, a jounin, could find her.

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/\(o^_^o)/\

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Wataru was getting bored of just walking around the village. What did his father expect him to do in peaceful little Konoha? Originally he thought it might be fun playing civilian, but nothing ever happened in the place. Unless you count the unimportant dog-girl losing her eyes. The only thing that kept him even mildly interested in his makeshift mission was that he heard talk of the chunin exams. He knew his sister was trying not to use the sharingan, but he also knew the power was seductive, and he was curious to see if she would give in.

He took his musings into the forest where he stopped when he heard an enchanting sound. He disguised himself in the trees as he hurried toward the source. He found himself looking at a girl who held a flute to her mouth. Her music, while beautiful, seemed to be the embodiment of pain and sorrow. Wataru was surprised when he felt tears sting his eyes; the only time he had been that emotional was when his mother was killed right in front of his eyes: the day when he met his father.

He hadn't realized he was about to jump down and meet the girl until a voice stopped him, "Toora! Where are you?" The girl stopped playing her music and turned to face the boy with and emotionless face. "We were supposed to meet sensei half an hour ago!" Wataru wasn't sure if she was listening or ignoring the boy's complaints, but either way she left the forest impassively with him trailing behind.

After they left Wataru silently cursed himself that while he was getting caught up with useless emotions he hadn't even paid attention to what the two looked like. The only thing that remained in his memory was the heart wrenching song that contrasted so sharply with her expressionless face.

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/\(o^_^o)/ \

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Hotaru was hoping his sister would teach him a new move for the chunin exam, but it quickly became apparent that she was too busy training her own genin squad for the same reason. He knew that Hana and Ryo had started training together since Ryo finally convinced Hana that she could do something, and honestly, he didn't want to get involved with the two girls training. So without anyone to train with he settled for picking up some sweets and sulking. He didn't completely blow of training though; he was much too afraid of his sister to do that. So, with a few chocolate bars and scrolls around him he began studying medical jutsu. None of his team knew that he was a beginner medical-nin because most people think of it as a girl's job. True, there were male doctors throughout the village that treated ninja's so they had the Konoha headband, but they weren't really ninjas. It was practically unheard of for a non-kunoichi to be a battlefield medical-nin, so Hotaru settled for keeping as is hobby that he could use in emergencies. He was startled when Konohamaru popped up outside of his window and he hurriedly hid what he was reading as he looked at his sensei. "Hey, Hotaru!" Hotaru was stunned at how casually his sensei spoke to him despite the fact that he was standing in a tree outside his student's window. "You wanna train?"

"S-sure…" Hotaru said uneasily.

"Great! Come to the waterfall!" Ordered Konohamaru before poofing away.

Hotaru made his way to the waterfall still unsure of his teacher's intention. He had thought that Konohamaru was still supposed to be training Hana because of her handicap. When he arrived Konohamaru was standing in front of the waterfall with a broad grin on his face. "Sensei, what is this all about?" Hotaru's confusion was evident in his voice.

"I told you… training!" Konohamaru gestured to the water, "I'm going to teach you how to walk on water!" Hotaru raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Observe. First I gather up chakra in my feet. Then I walk." Konohamaru demonstrated the process. "I would suggest you don't attempt it with all your clothes on at first." Hotaru actually found the task easier than most would, partially because his medical-nin training required precise chakra control. "Excellent!" Even Hotaru, as clueless as he was, could tell that the jounin was completely unsurprised that he had easily learned to walk on water. "Now I want you to hold this paper." Hotaru took the small rectangular piece of paper his sensei was holding out to him and was extremely surprised when the paper became wet in his hands. "As I thought, you have an affinity for water type jutsus!"

He looked at his teacher in disbelief, "What's going on?"

Konohamaru looked at him still smiling, "I'm going to teach you a good technique for the chunin exams!"

Hotaru's confused face quickly transformed into one of excitement, "What are you going to teach me!?"

Konohamaru made a handseal, tiger, before saying, "Suiton, water bullet!" A compressed water ball flew out of Konohamaru mouth and went through several trees before dispersing.

"Woah, cool! How do I do that sensei!?" Konohamaru was bouncing up and down no longer able to contain his excitement.

"First: build up chakra in your stomach. Then, carefully allow it to head toward your mouth, before you release it imagine it to be water as you spit it out. It helps to have water in your mouth when you first learn it."

Hotaru, went straight to the waterfall and filled his mouth with water. After trying time and time again he continued to fail. Just when he was on the verge of giving up Konohamaru put a hand on his shoulder, "I don't expect you to learn this all in one day; it is a complicated technique. In fact, it took me almost a month to learn this technique _after _I became a chunin."

"If you couldn't do it for a month what makes you think _I _could do it in a week?" Hotaru's voice gave away his uncertainty.

"Because, you are a talented genin. If you weren't I never would have recommended you for the chunin exams. I showed you this technique because you _can _learn it."

With his resolve renewed, Hotaru continued to attempt the technique. The process was slow going, but he didn't want to lose to any of the other genin at the chunin exams. He didn't successfully use the technique that day, but he promised himself he would come back every day he had to until he learned.

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**A/N: I tried to give the perspective of more characters this time around that is the benefit of third person. We will get to meet a multitude of other characters as the chunin exams progress because characters from other villages will come. Because of this I will offer you guys the chance of telling me your genin OCs that you would like to be in the chunin exams. I will apologize in advance if they end up out of character as this is something I have never done before, but if you do decide to submit them this is the format they should be in:  
**

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Village:**

**Team: (If they don't have a team I will put them on one using mine or other's OCs)**

**Appearance:**

**Personality:**

**Intelligence level: (1-10)**

**Jutsu:**

**Background/Other Info:**

**I'm also not going to say whether or not they will pass the chunin exams that depends on who they are matched up with, intelligence level, etc. Also, I want to avoid mary sues and I will not put everybody's characters in if I get a whole lot, I can only handle so much, but I will try. I will give everyone proper credit in the disclaimer. Although I have the next chapter mostly written I have space to add your OCs if you send them in. And if I fall in love with your character they may show up after the chunin exams :D  
**

**By the way, the jutsu that Hotaru is learning actually showed up in the manga and the information I got on it came from my research on it, although how to teach was from my imagination other than the whole swallow the water... that came from Naruto trying to teach Gamakichi and his brother (I can't remember his name) to learn how to use a water technique. It's kind of weird that at one point Sasuke said that the hand seal Tiger was used for fire type jutsu, but then later in the manga and anime they used the tiger hand seal for a water type jutsu. Anyway, please review if for no other reason than to give me your OCs for the chunin exams ^_~ Oh, and one more thing... I apologize if I only update once a week for a little while. My finals are coming up and I need to concentrate on those**

**Oh, if you guys are becoming interested in Hana I posted a one-shot on how her parents got together... It's called Comfort in Your Arms. It's on my profile :)**


	9. Stranger in Konoha

**A/N: I am _so so so so so _sorry that I haven't updated in forever... For a while I just couldn't bring myself to write this chapter, and I didn't want to write a bad one. I don't plan on taking that long EVER again, but I don't want to make any promises.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Toora was created with a friend and Ai belongs to AutobotSeeker98.**

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Yoshi walked behind Toora with a scowl directed toward her back. He was always getting frustrated with her because she never seemed to pay any attention to what the others were saying. If you didn't have to take the chunin exams in teams he might have tried to convince her not to sign up. When they finally got to the small apartment they were staying at he saw a much more easygoing expression on his best friend, Riku's, face. "Took you guys long enough!" The other boy said. "Where was she?"

"Playing her flute in the forest." Yoshi answered with an exasperated sigh, "Big surprise there." He added sarcastically.

An older man walked in from another door within the apartment, "Are you guys ready for training then?" He asked the three genin surrounding him.

"Sure, why not." Answered Riku with his grin never leaving his face.

"Alright, so you remember your first task was to take the stone statue from my hand, correct?" their sensei waited until they all nodded, before pulling out a statue very familiar to them, "Well, you guys are going to try again, but it will be harder this time."

/\(o^_^o)/ \

Hotaru was getting extremely frustrated with the jutsu Konohamaru tried to teach him. His sensei told him that he believed he could learn the jutsu in a week, but he felt like he wasn't getting anywhere. Then, as if to mock him, Hana and Ryo came to talk to him about how well they were progressing. As much as he cared for his teammates there were times he wanted to scream about being the worst in the class. Everyone knew the stories of how most of people in his class had parents that were considered the strongest generation of ninja, and at times he felt alienated with being raised by his sister.

He just about ready to give up and slumped to the ground when said sister walked toward him. "What are you doing kid?" she asked.

He looked at her in dismay, "Failing at learning the jutsu sensei taught me."

She slapped him on the face causing him to look at her with a horrified expression before she crouched down and grabbed hold of his shoulders, "Learning a jutsu doesn't happen all at once… take it slow." She smiled at him in a way that Hotaru had rarely seen.

"But Yumi… you were always a prodigy." He protested.

She sighed and stood up, "How much have you learned about the 4th great ninja war?"

"The one against Tobi? It seemed to be Iruka sensei's favorite subject."

"His favorite subject wasn't the war. Damn, he hated that war, but he loved the people who fought for the people _they _loved. Naruto was dead last in his class. Lee could only ever learn taijutsu… Heck, the kazekage was hated by everyone in his village. They forged on and created the longest standing alliance ever." Her soft voice suddenly hardened, "So you can do the same."

As much as he hated his sister sometimes at that particular moment he felt an enormous amount of respect and love for her, "Thanks Yumi!" He thanked her sincerely.

Minato was enjoying some long missed time with his father when one of the advisors called Naruto back in for some paperwork. Minato forced a smile on his face as his father apologized for having to leave… again. The time he spent with his dad was often Minato's favorite part of the day, but they were often too short to truly enjoy it. Neji looked at his little brother, he had used that same fake smile with their father. When Minato caught his older brother looking at him he made himself grin even wider as he asked, "What'cha lookin' at idiot?"

Neji was taken aback for only a second before he grinned back at his little brother, "Who're you calling an idiot dork?" He went over and ruffled Minato's red hair that was spiked the same way their father's was.

"Get off me!" Minato yelled trying to push his dark-haired elder brother away. Eventually their playing turned into an all-out brawl that Hinata had to step in and stop before they blew a hole through the wall.

Since Neji had cheered him up Minato decided to go, and find his teammates in his village. He was expecting to, literally, run into a tan girl decked out in blue. "Hey flame head what are doing to our girl?" demanded one of the boys standing beside her, he was also wearing blue (though not as much as her).

"Yes, because I am your girl." She said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

"Aww come on, Ai, you know you're our team's token girl." Mentioned the guy on the other side of her who was decked out in varying shades of green.

"Akito, you don't _need _a token girl," she said addressing the green twin, "you have plenty back home." She turned to the other twin as he opened his mouth, "Neither do you Haruto." She told him pointedly to make him shut his mouth.

Minato finally took a real look at the three genin standing in front of him. They were about the same age as him and were probably a genin team that came for the chunin exams going by their hidden mist headbands.

The girl had midnight blue hair that she wore in a short ponytail. Her black eyes looked like they could hold a sharp gaze, but at the time they were sparkling with laughter. Overall her face gave a nice impression, despite the sharp teeth that reminded him of stories he had heard about Kisame. He could tell that her skin was tanned such a bronze color because of hours of training under the sun and not from her family. The birthmark under her right eye had also caught Minato's eye because it was shaped like a gill. She wore baggy blue shorts that were most likely chosen for the freedom of movement they gave, just like her matching tight-fitting T-shirt.

Minato assumed the two boys on either side of her were twins seeing as the only real difference between them were the colors of the outfit they wore. They both wore simple pants and a tightfitting shirt underneath leather armor. Even their dark brown hair that was in a long ponytail that made them seem even taller was identical.

Minato finally noticed the three were looking at him because he still hadn't picked himself up off the ground. "You okay, dude?" asked Akito.

"Yeah I was just kidding. I think Ai is fine." Added Haruto.

Minato pulled himself up, "Yeah, sorry… just not used to strangers being in the village is all."

"Speaking of strangers," Ai suddenly spoke up, "Do you think you could direct us to the apartments that we visitors are staying at?"

"Sure," Minato pointed out directions to where he had heard his father planning out different houses for genin teams to stay. As soon as they were out of sight Minato once again rushed off to do some final last minute training with his teammates.

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**A/N: Sorry that it wasn't a very long chapter... It was only really meant as an in-between chapter for the chunin exams and to get a sneak-peek at some of the teams that will be participating in the exams. Next chapter will be the written test for the chunin exams, and I will give you fair-warning that it will be pretty similar to the one in the anime/manga partially because it's easier, and partially it just kind of makes sense for what I'm thinking. I will still try to change it up a little bit, so don't worry to much. And I hope you don't give up on me after that LONG break. I want to update the next chapter by Saturday... If I don't you can totally bug me and I will work hard to get it done :)**


	10. Written Exam

**A/N: Sorry this was later than I expected. I had a lot going on at school including being in a childrens play (Kids are so adorable .) So I got it done as soon as I found the time so I'm uploading it. I hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

******Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Toora was created with a friend and Ai belongs to AutobotSeeker98.**

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When Ryo walked in she was surprised to be greeted by over a hundred unwelcoming faces. There were, however, six _very _welcoming faces. For the first time in several years the rookie nine were in the chunin exams. A boy around her age with messy brown hair walked over to her, "Long time no see!"

Hotaru walked over to the boy with a scowl, "Keiji? How did a loser like you get into the chunin exams?"

"I'm sorry, but _you _were the one who was ranked dead-last."

"You still think you're better than me!?" Hotaru shouted at the redhead.

"Um, guys," A small girl tried to step between the two. "Can we not fight right here?"

"Why don't you _not _get involved Kameko!" Keiji yelled at the girl harshly.

"B-but guys," the girl looked like she could be nine instead the twelve years she was as she jumped up and down trying to get their attention. "Everyone's staring at you!" When the two wouldn't come down she wiggled between the two enemies and pushed them as far apart as her tiny muscles would allow, "GUYS!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"WHAT!?" The two shouted at her together. She made a sweeping gesture with arm around the room showing all the glaring faces… "Oh," they replied in unison.

Before anybody else could make another move Ino walked in with a bunch of other instructors and sat on the desk in the front of the room. "Hey kids!" She shouted enthusiastically, effectively making sure all of their attention would be directed at her. Inoichi and Chokera gaped at the sight of their mother and she held up a finger to her mouth. Most of the students thought she was just making sure the room stayed quiet, but the twins knew that she was telling them to not make a scene. "Are you guys prepared for the first test of the chunin exams?" The class nodded at the eccentric teacher and she gestured to a couple people outside the door. Two men rolled in a large white board with a seating chart on it. "Alright, everyone to your seats before I explain the test!" she ordered and the genin complied.

"Alright so here is how this is going to work." Ino began, "The first test is a written test, and we don't like it when we catch you cheating. There are ten questions on the exam, but as you may have noticed there are only nine questions on the paper in front of you. The final question will be asked when there are fifteen minutes left in the exam, and it will have separate rules so we can worry about that later." Ino lifted herself of the desk and stood up straight, "This _will _be a team exam, so if you don't get at least one question right your entire team will fail! Also, if we catch you cheating five times you will fail along with your entire team! Use your heads and don't let us catch you cheating!" Ino waited a moment for her words to sink in before she shouted, "BEGIN!"

Hana stared at her invisible paper with Ginskunku on top of her head. She paid careful attention as she felt her dog start patting her on top of her head to create each letter on her paper using morse code. She quickly realized that she didn't know the answers to any of the questions that were on the exam and she tapped on her desk quietly to let Ginskunku know that she wanted answers from someone who did. Ginskunku quickly complied and Hana relaxed as she began writing all the answers with Ginskunku guiding her so she wrote them in the correct place.

Ryo glanced around the room wondering how she could cheat. Many teams were already being failed for being caught to many times. She knew the sharingan would do the trick, but she didn't want to risk it with so many people around her. The only way she could think to do it was to take her headband off and attempt to angle it until she found someone who had the answers. It worked, but only barely which frustrated her because she felt that she was much too useless.

Ai grinned as she realized she had the perfect way to cheat without being caught. She had set her sword on the table before she sat down to keep from being uncomfortable and when she pulled it out just slightly from the scabbard it was perfect to reflect answers. She only barely had to adjust her headband for it to angle somebody's answers to reflect to her sword, so she looked like she was just getting more comfortable in her seat. She was fairly positive that none of the instructors had noticed her cheating at all.

Shikari looked at her paper with a bored expression on her face. She honestly didn't care about the chunin exams, and had only decided to participate because they had to participate in teams of three. Still, she supposed she had better get some answers for her team so she used the shadow mimic technique to connect her shadow to somebody else's. Instead of completely taking control of them though, she allowed them to move freely and she copied their movements. Not long after she had all the answers written down she felt her mind being invaded and she blacked out.

Inoichi chuckled in Shikari's body. As much as she complained about things being "too troublesome" or "such a drag" she always got the job done when her friends depended on her. He wrote a little note at the top of the page, '_date sometime?' _He was always leaving notes like this for her. He left Shikari's body and entered his sister's not surprised that her page was empty. She had never been as good at discrete missions, but he loved her all the same and wrote in the correct answers. By the time he got back to his own body again he was ready for a nap. He just used his jutsu three times in a row which would always be a little bit tiring…

Toora looked at her test impassively, answering question by question with relative ease. Every now and then she came across one that stumped her so she would move on to the next one. After she was done she took out her flute and fingered the notes to her favorite song.

Ino looked at her examinees. She knew almost all the ones from Konoha, and even some from the Suna. She glanced at the clock, "Alright, time for the final question, but like I said the rules are different." She smiled at the students in a mildly sadistic way, "You have to choose whether or not to attempt the question." Some of the students started to ask why they wouldn't choose to answer the question, so Ino shushed them before continuing, "If you get this question wrong you and both of your teammates will remain genin… forever." This, of course caused uproar throughout the classroom so Ino glared at them all, "It's still your choice, but if you don't take the question you will fail along with your teammates. Choose: take the question and risk forever being a genin, or… leave now and attempt the test next year." Instantly hands shot up, and students left with their squads. Even as the number of students dwindled Ino stared at them all with an unmoving face. "Is this how many are staying? Twenty-one teams?" the seven squads didn't move as they stared at their examiner. Ino grinned at the squads, "You pass!"

"How!? What happened to the tenth question?" Similar questions erupted all over the classroom.

Ino's grin didn't leave her face, partially because her kids hadn't chickened out and left. "There wasn't any, or that was the tenth question. It all depends on how you look at it."

"Then why even ask us the other questions?"

"They were to test your information gathering skills. If you were caught then whatever information you had could very well be inaccurate. Sometimes information can be your life. If you want proof you need look no farther than this room." She looked at Hana, but continued talking, "If you're real ninja don't let us _catch _you cheating. Get it?" She glanced at the clock, "Anyway, it's about time your next examiner got here."

She had barely got the words out of her mouth when Kurenai walked through the door. She was the only sensei of the rookie nine that was still alive, and she had decided to be an examiner instead of a sensei this year. "Follow me to your next exam." Somehow the kind smile she gave the genin freaked them out as they walked out the door with her**.**

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**A/N: Sorry that the exam is just like the one in the anime, I just really liked the structure of that one so I stuck with it. The main reason I wrote this chapter is I wanted to get more into my character's mind. Anyway please review :)  
**

**P.S. Is there any pairing you like with the characters so far? I'm only vaguely thinking about it, but it might come up more as the story progresses.**


	11. Exam 2: Day 1

**A/N: I'm pretty proud of myself with how fast I wrote this one. I think it turned out pretty well, too.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Toora was made with help from a friend.**

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Kurenai led the genin to arena 44, or the more commonly known name: The Forest of Death. "You're test will commence here." She turned to face the students, "You might die during this test." Many of the genins' faces turned pale at her words. "Because of this we need you to sign these waivers.

"The rules of this test are simple. Every team will get one of these scrolls." She held out one black scroll with the kanji for earth and one white scroll with the kanji for heaven. "To pass you need to obtain both scrolls, and make it to the tower in the center of the forest. There are only three things that will cause you to be disqualified during this test. One: not making it to the tower with both scrolls in the time limit. Two: Those who lose a teammate or have a teammate killed. Third and most important: If you look in one of the scrolls before making it to the tower. The test will last for five days, and you are not allowed to leave early under any circumstance that doesn't constitute as a village emergency where you are needed. Your teams will be called up one-by-one to exchange the three waivers for a scroll. After which you may choose a gate and depart when the gate opens."

Ryo waited with her two teammates for their squad to be called. When they were called she led her team to the tent where the scrolls were kept. She glanced at the scroll and noted that it was an earth scroll before holding it out to Hana, "You keep the scroll."

"Why me?" She asked curiously.

"Everyone can tell that you're blind so they will underestimate you. You will be the first to know when an enemy attacks so the best suited to protecting it." Hana nodded and put the scroll in her pouch before exiting the tent.

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/\(o^_^o)/\

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Three genin with strikingly red hair entered the scroll tent. Anyone could tell by looking at them they were triplets, and to anyone who had seen the man, it was obvious they were the kazekage's children. The boy with a gourd on his back grabbed a scroll while the only girl, who also had a gourd, gave a noogie to her protesting brother who was the only one of the three with the gourd.

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/\(o^_^o)/\

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Once every team was lined up outside their gate the gates opened and the teams rushed in. Ryo quickly rushed into the trees and found a good temporary campsite. Once there she addressed her team. "Alright, here's how we are going to do this." While Ryo talked her teammates focused on the tapping of her fingers on the ground. When Hana lost her eyes she wasn't the only one to learn Morse code. While it had once been a valuable way to communicate the number of people who actually took the time to learn such technique that took so long to simply say one word dwindled. Because of this the team was pretty confident no one would learn their actual plan. The words Ryo spoke out loud told any enemies nearby that Hana was too weak to do anything. However, her tapping on the ground told only those that understood that the blinded ninja was an important asset to all of their plans.

After their little meeting they left to find a better campsite near water. Hana left to get the water while Ryo and Hotaru created traps around a cave they were planning to use for shelter. They looked up when they heard four barks from Ginskunku and ran towards Hana. They found that Hana had tripped over a root; during her fall her bag came open, and the scroll she carried was easily visible. Ryo was the first to speak, "Seriously Hana? Can't you do anything right?"

Hotaru spoke next, "Yeah, I know your blind and all, but could you at least try to stay out of the way?"

"S-sorry guys. I-I didn't mean to." Hana stuttered in response to the two who were so obviously scowling at her.

"We gave you the scroll because we thought the other teams wouldn't think we gave it to the blind person, but now you just let it out in the open!" Ryo shouted at her exasperatedly.

Hana felt around the ground trying to find all things that had fallen on the ground and ended up cutting her finger on a kunai. Hotaru looked at her, "Your dog is a better ninja than you and she is tiny" Hana burst into tears and ran into the forest before sobbing under a tree.

From atop the tree that Hana was cowering under, three ninjas had witnessed the scene. They came out of the tree and surrounded Hana. "Poor little leaf girl left all alone?" One of them taunted her, "Why don't you give use the scroll, and we'll leave you alone." Hana looked up at them with a large grin plastered to her face as she lunged forward and punched the middle one in the gut while Ryo and Hotaru took out the other two from behind. The three were ecstatic when they searched the enemy squad's bags to find the heaven scroll. Their plan had been successful, and all that was left was to make it back to the tower with each scroll.

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/\(o^_^o)/\

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Kameko watched Minato and Keiji fight about the best way to obtain a second scroll with irritation when she thought she saw a ninja hidden in the trees. "Guys…" She spoke up quietly with no reaction. "Guys." She tried again to no avail. She was chewing on her lip with worry when she saw movement for the second time, and knew that someone was watching. She walked up and tried tapping on Keiji's shoulder, but he shoved her off without breaking his fight away from Minato. She fell to her butt on the ground and look up to glare at them. When that didn't catch their attention she marched between them and slapped them both in the face.

The two guys were staring at her in confusion when a kunai with an explosion tag was thrown close to them. They all jumped back affectively spreading them out; add that to the fact that they couldn't see each other through the smoke, and the other team had a clear advantage. Kameko was still in the air when she came face to face with a girl with messy silver hair tied up to the side of her head, and eyes that reflected the ocean. The forest cape she wore billowed in the air as she flew toward Kameko. Kameko quickly thought to throw a kunai with a string attached to it at a tree and pulled herself away from the attack. The stranger ended up punching the ground and Kameko threw the kunai she had just used at the girl. The girl easily dodged easily and ran up the tree where Kameko was stationed. They ended up in a fist fight in the tree neither able to get a punch nor kick in without opening themselves up for a stronger counter blow.

The girls jumped several trees during the course of the fight, and before they knew it they were on a beach. The silver-haired girls smiled and stood on top of the water before quickly cycling through a plethora of hand-signs. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu." Kameko did her best to dodge the assault of the dragon, but find herself in a surprising amount of pain when the dragon managed to graze her side. She didn't have time to think about it, though, because the girl was quickly heading back on her way towards her. Kameko waited until just the right moment before using the substitution jutsu, and pulling herself into a tree. She was grabbing her side in pain as the blue-eyed girl called, "Where'd you go midget ninja! I'm gonna get you soon, just give up now!" Kameko used the clone jutsu, allowing her clone stand up on the tree to distract the enemy ninja. It was only an illusion, but it would be much harder to tell from a distance. Then while the girl was preoccupied at getting another strike at the illusion got behind the girl and stab her in the shoulder with a Kunai. It didn't win the fight, but Kameko was at an obvious advantage. The girl clutched her shoulder and made a wild swing for Kameko's face, but missed by an inch. Realizing that her arm was near useless the girl held up her one good arm, "Truce?"

Kameko looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow, "Give me the scroll, and I guess we can make a deal."

The girl shrugged, "Don't have it… My teammates do."

Kameko was just about to ask which one when Minato burst through the trees with his byakkugan activated, "Don't listen to her. She has it."

"How would you be able to tell red?"

He smirked, "Let's just say I'm awesome. So are you gonna give it to us or do we have to take it by force?"

The silver-haired girl glared at them for a moment, "Well…" She paused as if contemplating, "Catch me if you can!" She made a dash toward the water and dived in. Kameko and Minato contemplated very shortly whether or not to dive after her, but decided against it in favor of finding Keiji.

Minato quickly located him easily and led Kameko to him, but by the time they got there he was beaten and passed out on the ground. Minato carried him and they made their way to a campground where they could easily protect themselves. Kameko made traps while her red-headed teammate was on the lookout for an enemy, and taking care of Keiji at the same time. After the traps were set up Kameko rested for a little in hopes of healing her side, if only slightly, and Minato took first watch.

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**A/N: What did you guys think of my first fight scene? I don't think I'm particularly great at them so I apologize if you guys were hoping for an excessive amount of battling. I do want to put plenty of that sort of thing, but I'm not to sure if that will make the story bad if I can't write them like how I envision them in my mind. Also, one of the reasons I decided to update now is because tomorrow I'm going to an anime con and will be gone all weekend, Yippee! I'm dressing up as Sasori, and I'm gonna take part in the date auction so I might be laptop deprived. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and please review :) **


	12. Exam 2: Day 2

**A/N: Hi guys! This chapter turned out pretty well I think. Also, I had so much fun at the anime con! I met a person who had read my fanfiction, and a Kushina who said she would check it out *Squeeeee!  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto bla bla bla. Toora was created with a friend from school, and Ai belongs to AutobotSeeker98.**

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Ai looked at her teammates sleeping faces, then back into the darkness. Next thing she knew she was confronted with enemy ninja. "Wanna hand over your scroll? Even if you wake the two idiots behind you we'll still win easily.

Ai grinned sadistically revealing her sharp teeth, "I won't need them to destroy you." She pulled her katana from her back and swung it leisurely in front of her. With speed comparable to a wildcat she was in front of the middle ninja her sword centimeters from his stomach, the only thing that protected him was his reflexes grabbing the sword. One of ninjas on the side of her moved to go after her twin teammates so she swung her foot and kicked him back at the same time as pulling her sword from the middle ninjas grasp. She then moved to the side where the third ninja stood. She easily could have dug her sword into the girl's side, letting her bleed to death, but she opted on dragging her sword down the girl's arm leaving her in intense pain while bleeding profusely.

While the girl was on the ground clutching her arm and crying in pain Ai moved over to who seemed to act like the leader of the group and smiled at him before thrusting her sword toward his shoulder. When he dodged she quickly maneuvered her arm to plant the sword in his thigh. He moved to escape that strike as well, but only managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, leaving him with a long cut. It obviously hindered his movements, which would have made it easy for Ai to finish him off if she had only been fighting one ninja. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the other male ninja dashing to over to defend his teammate. She cursed as she realized that the third ninja which she had been saving for last had bandaged up the female's arm, and was definitely healed at least slightly by medical ninjutsu. She couldn't be sure which ninja was the medical ninja, but it certainly made it more difficult to take all three ninjas, if they wouldn't stay hurt. She looked over to where her teammates had been sleeping earlier to see them sitting up and watching the fight. "Were you two planning to help?"

Akito shrugged, "You seemed to think you would be fine without us."

"Never stopped you before." She informed them.

"But we thought our little girl was growing up." Haruto teased.

"Shut up and help me," Ai finally ordered them. The twins grinned at each other and faster than Ai they had wrapped their arms around the enemy female's shoulders. They began to whisper quickly in her ear, and when one of the girl's teammates made a move to attack them they each put a kunai against the girl's throat. Ai remembered the first time she saw this she thought the boys were flirting. She saw the girl collapse into Haruto's arms and Akito leaned over and gave her a kiss on the lips.

Akito looked at the ninja who still seemed to present himself as the leader, "Will you give us your scroll?" He had a mischievous grin on his face as he spoke, "Or we could keep your girl here." The ninja looked from one teammate to the other, he pulled out his scroll and walked toward Akito. When he got close he handed it off to him and took the girl from Haruto's arms. "See ya!" The twins shouted toward the retreating ninjas.

"Idiots," Ai muttered.

"Aw, Ai. You know you're the one we really like." Haruto teased.

"Yes, because I was so jealous of that girl." Ai told them sarcastically.

"Then surely you also want my kiss?" Akito smiled slyly at her.

Ai rolled her eyes, "When pigs fly." Then her face took a more serious look "We should head toward the tower." The twins shrugged before following her toward the center of the forest.

/\(o^_^o)/\

"Toora could you go look for something to eat?" Akira asked his quiet teammate with a smile on his face. Toora got up from the stump she sat on without a word, and walked toward where they had seen a river earlier.

Yoshi watched her retreating figure trying to control the scowl on his face. Something about Toora's ever-present silence bothered him. After she disappeared completely into the trees he went back to setting up various traps throughout the place. When he heard rustling in the trees he spun around, "Toora?"

Took rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry." She stuck her tongue out in an embarrassed. "I didn't mean to startle you." Yoshi looked toward Akira, and saw the almost imperceptible nod in his direction.

Yoshi smiled at her, "No it's fine. Did you get us the food."

Toora gave an apologetic laugh, "No, sorry. I wasn't sure which berries were poisonous so I came back to ask for help."

"No problem, Akira can help," He turned toward Akira, "Right?"

Akira grinned, "No problem." He walked over to Toora with the smile never leaving his face he punched her hard in the gut.

Toora doubled over, "What…" She sputtered, "What was that for?"

Akira smile turned into a glare, and he held her down with his foot, "What did you do to Toora?"

She gave them a nervous smile, "Wh-what are you talking about? I'm Toora."

Yoshi loomed over her, "You can't even lie very well." He crouched down next to her and gave a sadistic smile, "It might be fun to destroy you, though. Especially when you look like her."

Toora burst into tears, "Why don't you believe me!? I'm Toora!"

Yoshi's smile grew even crueler, "Then this will be even more satisfying." He brought his foot down on the girl's face… hard. Which finally dispelled the transformation jutsu on the girl.

"How did you know I wasn't her?" Asked the girl who replaced her.

Akira flashed his carefree smile, "You talked."

It was at that moment that Toora decided to emerge from the forest, with a stack of fish in her arms. Yoshi grabbed a large leaf and laid it down on the ground for her to stack the fish on, all cruelty from his face had seemed to disappear. Akira smiled at Toora with his foot still pressed on the mystery girl's chest, "Welcome back!" She looked at him and then at the girl under his foot. He followed her gaze, "Oh! Right! Do you have a scroll?"

"No."

Toora walked over and began to dig in her pouch and pulled out an earth scroll. Yoshi sighed, "Well that was pointless. It's not even the right scroll."

"Then do you mind letting me up?" the girl practically growled at Akira.

The boy looked at the girl underneath him and turned to Yoshi, "What do you think?"

Yoshi grinned evilly, "If Toora _says _yes then sure."

The nameless girl's eyes widened, "But I thought you said she doesn't talk!"

"Or you could tell us why your team isn't here to save you."

"They were supposed to be taking out her." Everyone turned to stare at Toora, in response she pulled out her flute.

Akira lifted his foot, "You can leave, but we're keeping your scroll in compensation." She glared at them, but left without a fight.

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**A/N: I hope my fight seen was good, and that my characters are believable. Is it too weird that Yoshi, Kankuro's son, is a bit sadistic? I don't know why he turned out that way, but I like it.  
**

**Also AutobotSeeker98: Did I capture Ai's personality? I've never done somebody else's character before and this is my first fanfic so I hope I did okay. Also, I apologize if she changes in the course of the fanfic. I just try to have characters in my story develop with time, and sometimes my fingers move on their own so...**


	13. Exam 2: Final

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long guys I was updating my other fanfiction and wasn't really working on this one. Thanks for the awesome reviews for the last chapter :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Toora belongs to a friend from school**

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Ryo clenched her teeth. They had already gotten both scrolls they needed to complete their mission, but reaching the tower was no easy task. They had encountered many enemy squads on the way, but the last one took the cake. She barely managed to dodge a kunai, but noticed too late that it had an explosive tag attached and was thrown painfully to ground by the blast. She struggled to pick herself up off the ground, but even when she did the smoke wouldn't clear away and seeing was near impossible. She felt a cut on her arm, then her leg and face. It didn't take her long to understand: her enemies could see her, but she couldn't see them.

She was about to activate the sharingan, but hesitated and thought. Since it was an exam she figured there were probably cameras around. After some internal arguments with herself she decided that they wouldn't have cameras in a no-rules test. She activated her sharingan, and could immediately see those hidden by the smoke. She smiled to herself when she saw her teammates continue to pick themselves off the ground and fight back. With a new found determination she tracked the movements of her enemies, and positioned herself in the perfect places to hit back. Somehow the power of the sharingan was exhilarating; she didn't want to deactivate it even after her enemies were on the ground. Realizing her friends were staring she forced herself to deactivate her sharingan and flashed a triumphant grin toward her teammates. Then, realizing Hana couldn't see it, she wrapped her two friends in a bear hug "Great job you guys!"

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/\(o^_^o)/\

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Shikari spied on the team that had taken away her scroll carefully. She wasn't prepared the first time, but now she had a plan. As soon as one of the members went away for supplies Shikari gave the signal. While Chokera went after the one who had disappeared she morphed her hands into a familiar hand-sign that had been passed down for generations in her family. At the same moment her shadow connected to one of the members of the enemy squad she knew that Inoichi had taken care of the other one.

She kept her charge still while Inoichi, in the other person's body, ruffled through each of the pockets of the enemy team. Shikari grinned while the boy on the other end of her shadow futilely called out for their other team member to come back. She frowned when she realized Inoichi only managed to obtain one of the scrolls; the other must've been with the absent teammate.

She gave Inoichi another signal and they began to walk, Shikari carrying Inoichi's real body, toward where they knew Chokera was holding up the last enemy ninja. They arrived to see Chokera, blown up like a balloon, rolling toward a cowering ninja. Chokera squished the ninja into a tree where his head collided into the tree with enough force to knock him out.

Chokera pulled the second scroll out of the ninjas bag and they were almost ready to leave. Inoichi walked his puppet body over to a tree where Chokera and Shikari tied him up before he went back to his original body. Shikari decided to try something similar to a story she had heard about her father during the chunin exams. She walked to a place where the ninja on the other end of her shadow was facing a tree while she was facing open air. With as much force as she could muster she sent her head flying forward. She smiled and released her shadow when she saw her plan worked, probably well enough to even give the other ninja a good concusion.

"Can we go now?" Chokera asked her team. "The tower probably has food and I'm starved!"

"Jeez sis, do you ever stop eating?"

Chokera turned to glare at her brother, "I'll stop eating when you stop being a playboy baka brother!"

"You guys are fighting again? I knew being stuck in the forest with you guys would be a drag." Shikari mumbled while leading them toward the tower.

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/\(o^_^o)/\

* * *

"It's three days in, most of the teams have probably already gotten a scroll and are at the tower." Yoshi observed, "So why are we so slow?"

"Cuz we have so much more fun during the exam." Akira made up an explanation with a large smile.

"I don't understand how you're always so carefree." Yoshi told him while pinching the bridge of his nose. "We should head to the tower, maybe we can ambush a team there."

"Sure sure." Akira agreed. While they were walking Toora stopped suddenly behind them and pointed to a tree.

Yoshi smiled, "This'll be fun" He pulled the mummy off his back and looked toward the tree Toora pointed to, "Wanna come down from there?"

Three grass ninjas appeared from the trees, "So you found us." One said. "That doesn't mean we can't beat you.

Yoshi released his puppet from it bandages, "Mind holding back a little you guys?" his teammates replied with a shrug. "I'm gonna go wild." He jumped up to a tree to maneuver his puppet from afar. While he flicked his fingers his smile grew. It was something he always enjoyed, to have someone at his mercy with the tiniest twitch of a finger he could deliver death. With the tiniest cut a poison that would paralyze a man for life.

He knew that he must've looked insane flinging around his puppet with a crazed smile. He hadn't bothered to use poisons that brought death, instead he just paralyzed the team that stood in front of his and took their scroll. Thankfully it was a heaven scroll so they actually had a matching set.

"For someone who could paralyze them you cut them up a lot." Akira observed while staring down at one of the grass-nins.

"Whatever, I was just having fun. Let's go."

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**A/N: This was a shorter chapter. The next chapter will probably be out soon... maybe even later today, but I just want to get out of the forest soooo. Next chapter we will have one-on-one fights yay! ^_^  
**


	14. Character so Far

**A/N: Sorry guys not an actual chapter, but I thought I would clear up some confusions about families.**

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**Team 5**

_Jounin_: Asuma Sarutobi Jr. – Son of Kurenai Yuhi and Asume Sarutobi

_Students_:

Shikari Nara – Daughter of Shikamaru Nara and Temari. Mentions of an older sister.

Inoichi Yamanaka – Son of Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi. Twin brother of Chokera Akimichi

Chokera Akimichi – Daughter of Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi. Twin sister of Inoichi Yamanaka

.

**Team 8**

_Jounin_: Konohamaru Sarutobi – No explanation needed

_Students_:

Ryo Rock – Daughter of Sakura Haruna and Sasuke Uchiha. Widely believed to be the daughter of Rock Lee. Half-sister to Gai Rock on her mother's side and to Wataru Uchiha on her father's side.

Hotaru Denshi – Unknown parents. Younger brother to Yumi Denshi

Hana Inuzuka – Daughter of Kiba Inuzuka and Tenten.

.

**Team 11**

_Jounin_: Yumi Denshi – Unknown parents. Older sister of Hotaru Denshi

_Students_:

Minato Uzumaki – Son of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga.

Keiji Frerja – Unknown Parents

Kameko Sitogame – Unknown Parents

.

**Sand Team 1**

_Jounin_: Unknown

_Students_:

Yoshi – Son of Kankuro

Akira – Unknown Parents

Toora – Unknown Parents. Belongs to Absolute Infinity

.

**Hidden Mist Team 1**

_Jounin_: Unknown

_Students_:

Ai – Unknown Parents. Belongs to AutobotSeeker98

Akito – Unknown Parents. Twin brother of Haruto. He is the "green twin"

Haruto – Unkown Parents. Twin brother of Akito. He is the "blue twin"

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**A/N: This is by no stretch of the imagination perfect information. This is just a recap of information you have been given earlier in the story in a more organized fashion that is easier to understand.  
**


	15. Preliminaries I

**A/N: I am so sorry it had been WAAAY too long... Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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The genin gathered in a large room that had a balcony on two opposite walls. The genin lined up all gathered to see numerous jounin in the front of the room including all of their sensei, and the proctors. In the middle of them was the hokage with his signature grin plastered on his face. The blond surveyed the room noting that, for the first time since he was a genin, all of the rookie nine made it out of the forest of death.

"Congratulations on passing the chunin exams." Kurenai said with a somewhat monotonous voice. "The hokage will now speak."

Naruto stepped forward, "The second exam will start soon, but I've been told there is something I _must _explain." He spoke thinking of the elders that he assumed, almost hoped, would be gone by the time he became hokage. "That is that the real reason for this test is a replacement for war among the allied countries. As it was explained to me as a genin was that the nations that were once enemies now hold this together so that we can show our power."

"Wait, I don't get it." Kameko spoke up. "Didn't all the countries once team up?"

"Well yes." Naruto agreed, "But that was to defeat a common enemy. Since that ended the countries compete for resources and jobs. That is why the third test will have an open audience. The actual test will…"

He was interrupted by another person who was now kneeling in front of him, "Sir, as the proctor for the next exam I would like to take over."

"Aw come on Izumo you interrupted my awesome speech!" Naruto complained losing any trace dignity he might have had.

Izumo resisted rolling his eyes at the same complaint the hokage made every time they hosted the chunin exams. He turned back to face the genin that were now looking wide-eyed at the hokage's immaturity. "The third exam will consist of no rules all out battles. The actual third exam will be held in one month, but there will need to be a round of preliminaries first. These preliminaries will be one-on-one battles that will be held immediately… If anyone doesn't think they are up to the task raise your hand now." Izumo waited about a minute before speaking again, "If everyone is staying we will now begin the preliminary round." He looked toward a screen that opened up behind a panel in the wall. "This will decide all of the matches." He explained then waited for the first two names to be drawn.

**Akira **

**Vs.**

**Hotaru Denshi**

Izumo looked back to the genin, "Will those whose names have appeared please step forward." Hotaru walked forward looking extremely unconfident. Even more so after seeing the carefree grin on Akira's face. "Those who are not fighting can watch from the balcony." He looked directly at the two boys in front of him, "This will be sudden death with no rules. It will continue until one of you dies, admits defeat, or is unable to battle any longer. Are you ready."

Hotaru looked warily at his opponent, "S-sure."

Akira kept his lazy smile, "Anytime."

"Then you may begin."

Hotaru jumped backwards and put his defenses up expecting Akira to make the first move. He squished his face in confusion when Akira simply stood there without any defensive stance. He only stared with his ever-present smile. Hotaru quickly became annoyed and rushed forward to attack the sand-village ninja. Akira side-stepped Hotaru's punch and brought his own fist down on Hotaru's back making him lose his balance and fall. Hotaru broke the fall using his hand and used did a leg sweep hoping to trip Akira.

Akira jumped into the air to avoid a similar fall and flipped backwards before standing still to wait for Hotaru to make the next move. Hotaru glared at his opponent after realizing that rushing in without a plan was useless. This time he quickly morphed his hands into signs that he had been practicing for the last few weeks, _Water Style: Water Bullet. _He grinned in satisfaction until he saw Akira's jutsu. _Barrier Style: Deflective Defense. _A reflective orange square appeared in front of Akira. As soon as Hotaru's water bullet hit the barrier it bounced back toward him causing him to have to jump away from his own attack. Akira's smile grew larger as he stood waiting for Hotaru's next move.

In his anger Hotaru didn't think and rushed forward. Akira used Hotaru's own momentum to flip him and send him flying into a wall. Hotaru had to drag himself away from the wall and was obviously weakened by his impact with the wall. Angrier than before he ran toward Akira with a punch ready. Akira grabbed the boy's hand and used it to twist the his arm behind his back. "You might want to give up." He whispered into Hotaru's ear.

Hotaru's arm was in pain but he still glared at his opponent and said, "Never!" He kicked away from his opponent's grasp and rushed forward again. The battle continued on in this fashion with Hotaru blinded by rage and not able to get a single strike in. Meanwhile, Akira barely moved at all, but managed to completely tire out the other boy. Eventually Hotaru was tired to the point of collapsing and Akira was declared winner.

Hotaru was in well enough condition so they allowed him to sleep in the stands while the next names were revealed.

**Bunta**

**Vs.**

**Ryo Rock**

Ryo grinned, "Looks like I'm up." She jumped down the railings to meet her opponent. Ryo noted that he seemed confident but not as confident as she was. The match was actually a relatively short tai-jutsu bout. With Ryo's expertise in tai-jutsu and the opponent not seeming to know any nin-jutsu or gen-jutsu the match was quick and not particularly thrilling. By the time Ryo had finished Hotaru hadn't even woken up.

**Kiyoko**

**Vs.**

**Kameko Sitogame**

Kiyoko grinned as she met Kameko in the center. "So it's midget ninja again. You did quite a number on my shoulder last time." Kameko couldn't say anything in response. She was actually really sensitive about her height but never dared to speak out against people she didn't know. When the match began Kameko jumped backwards and pulled a kunai out. Kiyoko looked at her menacingly before lurching forward with her own kunai. The metal clashed together. Kameko reached into her bag again to pull out a smoke bomb. She jumped back as she threw it down and left Kiyoko in a cloud of purple smoke. Then she jumped onto the statue at and hid on the side facing away from Kiyoko.

Kiyoko rushed out of the smoke to look for her small opponent but she couldn't see the girl anywhere. While she was looking for the girl a kunai came flying toward her from the statue. She lurched backwards to dodge the kunai but realized too late that it had an explosion tag on it. She was trapped in tan smoke this time so she quickly tried to get out once again but was met with a kunai into her already injured shoulder. She cried out and tried to attack the small ninja, but Kameko was nimble and was easily able to slip out of her opponent's range.

Kameko knew that she had almost won, but she had to finish it off before Kiyoko got past her rage and thought up a plan. She did a quick run through in her head what she had left in her pouch before making a quick decision. She put her hands behind her back in a way that made her look like the cute innocent girl most believed her to be. "Are you alright?" She asked sweetly, "I'm sorry about your shoulder." While she spoke she pulled out a kunai and wrapped another explosion tag around the handle. "If you're not feeling up to it you could just give up."

Her words obviously angered Kiyoko who rushed forward to attack. Kameko smiled and threw her kunai down to the ground. As soon as she saw the explosive tag Kiyoko lurched to the side to avoid it, but Kameko followed her and deliver a kick that sent her flying to the wall.

Kiyoko peeled herself from the now destroyed wall with her arm hanging limply at her side. Her breath was coming in ragged and shallow. She had a jutsu that she was pretty sure would finish the small girl off, but there wasn't any way she could perform the handseals with only one hand. After running her head through every scenario she could think and coming up with no solution she raised her hand. "Proctor, I give up." Kameko was obviously surprised, but the medics came in to treat her arm and she went to the hospital peacefully only saying, "Next time shorty."

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**A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter and I will try to be faster at updating, but it's hard creating a completely original plotlines... and characters... and jutsus... Hopefully Akira doesn't seem to Mary-sue, or whatever the male equivalent is, with his jutsu... It is a kekkei genkai and it does have its own drawbacks that you will see later soo.. Please review they really do inspire me and I will try to update faster.  
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